just when it seemed as though there was a light at the end of the tunnel for many living in deprived areas the light began to fade there is much we still dont understand about the new variant whether people infected with it are less likely to end up in hospital than previous variants for example but there are reasons to be at least cautiously optimistic on that front however even if that turns out to be true we have already seen unprecedented numbers of cases in young people in london in the past week and a small percentage of a very big number can still be alarmingly large given the huge pressure that the nhs is already under any increase in hospital admissions is a serious concern boosters need an equitable rollout the one hope is boosters the evidence is already clear that a third vaccination is effective against omicron the government and the nhs are pulling out all the stops to get as many booster jabs in as many arms as possible but as with the first and second dose rollouts vaccination rates are lowest in the most deprived areas if the uk government focuses only on getting as many boosters delivered as possible without making a real effort to increase vaccination coverage in the most deprived areas there is a very real concern that the gulf in health between the haves and the have nots in england will further widen