HEALTH
Ask Dr Mark
YOUR QUESTIONS/ SELF-TESTING KITS / COMPLEMENTARY NUTRIENTS
This month our expert advises on Covid boosters, mini-strokes, threadworms and blood pressure readings
illustration ADAM HOWLING
Q My husband and I are fully vaccinated against Covid and have managed to avoid catching the virus. A few of our friends have had it recently but were not that ill. Do we need another booster? Are you having one?
a You have done well to avoid Covid. Although we don’t have hard data – in part because we stopped testing – most people will have had it at least once by now. Indeed, the Office for National Statistics estimates that 44 million people in the UK caught the virus in the first two years of the pandemic (up to spring last year), and millions more will have done so since. And, as the emergence of the latest variants over the past few months has demonstrated, Covid isn’t going anywhere. Mass vaccination may have minimised its impact, but the vaccines wear off and regular boosters will be required for the foreseeable future for those most at risk.