Coronavirus: Threats to health workers

Available for over a year

Covid-19 infections in several countries are causing pressures on hospital resources to rise again. At the same time, polarising views persist over vaccination. Some health workers have witnessed rising hostility and abuse from the public. Hosts Nuala McGovern and James Reynolds hear from two health workers in Canada and the UK about the escalating problems they have experienced. Midwife Gill Walton, for instance, who is also the chief Executive of the UK’s Royal College of Midwives, experienced a number of threats after encouraging pregnant women on national television to get a vaccine against Covid-19. We also consider the impact of the pandemic on patients. We introduce two women in their 20s, from the USA and UK, who share how they are still suffering the debilitating effects of "long covid", more than a year after first getting infected. (Photo: A doctor wearing protective gear at the intensive care unit of Honved Hospital treating COVID-19 patients during the pandemic of new coronavirus COVID-19 in Budapest, Hungary, 15 December 2021 (issued on 16 December 2021). Credit: ZOLTAN BALOGH HUNGARY OUT/EPA)