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A hero surgeon who died of Covid while saving patients on the frontline was double-vaccinated but caught the virus just days before boosters became available, his devastated family has revealed.
Grieving widow Saila Halim said Dr Irfan Halim, 45, passed away at Royal Brompton Hospital in West London on November 14 following a nine-week battle with the virus.
The doctor, who had no known health conditions, received his second vaccine in January but was struck down by the disease on September 10, six days before Britain's booster programme was given the green-light.
As a frontline NHS worker who was vaccinated nine months ago, he would have been at the front of the queue for the crucial third shot when they were rolled out on September 16.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mrs Halim said today: 'My husband worked away from London and I'm not sure which vaccine he received but he was double vaccinated and always wore full PPE when he was on the wards.'
Fighting back the tears, she continued: 'He never said anything about getting the booster and I don't think he got one.
'It makes you question the efficiency of the vaccine but now is not the time for me to think about these things because I'm so heartbroken.
'It's a double tragedy for the family and we are in too much pain to consider anything else.'
Dr Halim's death came just two months after he had taken up work on the Covid ICU wards at Great Western Hospital, Swindon, where he collapsed on shift and is believed to have contracted the virus.
Even though the vaccines offer very high protection against serious illness and death, they start to wane at around six months and are not 100 per cent effective. Dr Halim's age, vaccine status and general health should have put him at a lower risk of dying from Covid, even though it had been nine months since his second dose.
The surgeon was thought of as a medical powerhouse and described by colleagues as like '10 men in one body' after treating 250,000 patients throughout his career.
He was isolated from his family for four months at the height of the pandemic last spring while treating Covid patients on the front lines.
Mrs Halim revealed she spared her husband the additional grief that his father Kamal, 75, also a doctor, died in another London hospital from Covid on September 24.
It comes as Covid cases continued to rise across the UK, with 44,242 infections recorded today — up nearly 10 per cent next week. Deaths were also up 8 per cent in a week with 157 victims registered over the past 24 hours.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...n-dies-Covid-spending-months-away-family.html
Grieving widow Saila Halim said Dr Irfan Halim, 45, passed away at Royal Brompton Hospital in West London on November 14 following a nine-week battle with the virus.
The doctor, who had no known health conditions, received his second vaccine in January but was struck down by the disease on September 10, six days before Britain's booster programme was given the green-light.
As a frontline NHS worker who was vaccinated nine months ago, he would have been at the front of the queue for the crucial third shot when they were rolled out on September 16.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mrs Halim said today: 'My husband worked away from London and I'm not sure which vaccine he received but he was double vaccinated and always wore full PPE when he was on the wards.'
Fighting back the tears, she continued: 'He never said anything about getting the booster and I don't think he got one.
'It makes you question the efficiency of the vaccine but now is not the time for me to think about these things because I'm so heartbroken.
'It's a double tragedy for the family and we are in too much pain to consider anything else.'
Dr Halim's death came just two months after he had taken up work on the Covid ICU wards at Great Western Hospital, Swindon, where he collapsed on shift and is believed to have contracted the virus.
Even though the vaccines offer very high protection against serious illness and death, they start to wane at around six months and are not 100 per cent effective. Dr Halim's age, vaccine status and general health should have put him at a lower risk of dying from Covid, even though it had been nine months since his second dose.
The surgeon was thought of as a medical powerhouse and described by colleagues as like '10 men in one body' after treating 250,000 patients throughout his career.
He was isolated from his family for four months at the height of the pandemic last spring while treating Covid patients on the front lines.
Mrs Halim revealed she spared her husband the additional grief that his father Kamal, 75, also a doctor, died in another London hospital from Covid on September 24.
It comes as Covid cases continued to rise across the UK, with 44,242 infections recorded today — up nearly 10 per cent next week. Deaths were also up 8 per cent in a week with 157 victims registered over the past 24 hours.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...n-dies-Covid-spending-months-away-family.html
