A Tale of Two COVIDs – Delta and Omicron: What happens when you’re vulnerable & vaccinated – but still get the virus?

PART 1 – Rachel Horne tells her story

It started in mid-November with a headache – a continual pain clamping down on my skull. Then came the tiredness. Reluctantly, I opened a lateral flow test – swabbed, squeezed and watched as two red lines quickly appeared on the test pad.

Positive.

I had COVID: the virus which for the past twenty months I’d done everything to dodge. I’d followed all the safety precautions – masking up, avoiding indoor gatherings, shielding when advised – and been triple vaccinated. I’d lost track of all the plans I’d had to cancel/delay: cinemas, theatres, going on a plane, eating inside restaurants…

So finding out I had the Delta virus was a shock. But it also filled me with dread.

That’s because I am one of the 200,000 plus people in the world with MS who is on Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) – a drug which works by suppressing the immune system.

Research has shown those taking Ocrevus and fingolimod (Gilenya) who get Covid tend to have particularly severe and long-lasting infections. Or, more bluntly, are more likely to get hospitalised and even die – despite being vaccinated. That’s because our bodies struggle to develop antibodies after the shots.

That was certainly my case. A recent blood test showed I’d failed to seroconvert after three jabs.

On the plus side, I was pretty fit with no pre-existing medical conditions and my MS was not advanced. I was also in my mid-50’s – not young, but not medically elderly.

I also knew the UK medical regulator had recently approved the Ronapreve – a highly-effective monoclonal antibody which works by mounting an immune response against the virus in vulnerable people if taken within days of symptoms appearing.

The next morning – after getting a PCR test – I showed up at the busy A&E at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London and told them I was immunocompromised and was Covid positive. By now I was feeling wretched and my MS symptoms had flared up. My balance was off, my left leg was dragging and my vision had narrowed.

I was whisked in to see a triage nurse who measured my vital signs including my oxygen levels. He was slightly concerned as my blood oxygen level was 92 so I was admitted to an observation room.

Bloods were taken, ECG (electrocardiogram) electrodes were placed across my chest to measure my heart rate/rhythm and a pulse oximeter was clipped to my finger.

A doctor came into the room. I explained my situation and asked if I could be treated with Ronapreve. I gave him a copy of my antibody test. I also said whenever I got ill, it took me ages to recover because of my MS. He said he would get back to me.

I spent the rest of the day feeling rotten. As for the doctor, several times he checked on me and each time I asked if I could start on Ronapreve. It’s not easy to be advocate for your own health when you are lying [KS1] [rh2] in a hospital bed, a bit disoriented, but I tried.

It was no use. By late afternoon, the doctor reappeared. He had checked with the neurology department. “We’ve never had anyone who was immunocompromised with Covid in here,” he said.

So I went home, got into bed and essentially [KS3] stayed there for more than two weeks.

There’s a long clinical list of Delta Covid symptoms – dry cough, shortness of breath, body aches, nausea, loss of smell and taste and fatigue – that we can all recite by now. Then there is how the virus actually makes you feel. It’s like the worst hang-over ever; a vice squeezing your head, like going a few rounds with world boxing champion Tyson Fury.

The only thing I could do was rest and sleep. Forget reading – too much effort[KS1] [rh2] . I couldn’t even watch much online – looking at baby elephant videos was my limit. As for showers, I didn’t trust myself to stay upright – baths were safer.

Very quickly, I lost my sense of taste and smell. I also had no appetite. I had to force myself to eat. Fortunately, I was not alone. My husband was able to bring me food and keep an eye on me. Thankfully over time, my blood oxygen levels slowly recovered. I started to feel better.

It’s been nearly two months since I first got that headache. I still feel tired and wine and coffee taste pretty awful.

So how did I catch the virus? I suspect I picked it up when I went out to my birthday dinner a week earlier – the first time I had been inside a restaurant in ages. Yes, we were far away from others but…

As for Ronapreve. It’s impossible to know how I would have fared if I had received the drug. On the one hand, I never got seriously ill. But I strongly suspect Ronapreve would have speeded my recovery – and I wouldn’t have gone through those awful days in bed. And for that I would have been grateful.

True twist: Just before Christmas, I was waiting to board a (long-postponed) flight to Florida. Guess who was standing in line behind me? Tyson Fury. I smiled respectfully. I wasn’t up for another round!

Part 2 – Christine’s story: when Omicron sends you to the hospital (coming soon)

CoI: none