Inside the COVID ICU where unvaccinated patients fight for their lives

Watch: COVID ICU where unvaccinated patients fight for their lives

A new video series has given a look inside a Liverpool COVID intensive care unit where unvaccinated patients as young as 30 are fighting for their lives.

The footage filmed at Royal Liverpool Hospital showed doctors battling to keep patients alive amid the surge of the Omicron variant.

Director of critical care Dr Peter Hampshire said he saw healthy people in their 30s and 40s come into the ICU and the majority suffering severe symptoms were unvaccinated.

He said: "Sometimes you see patients who die of COVID and they’re young and you know, it’s extremely upsetting for the staff to see that.

“Four out of five of our patients have not had the vaccine. It’s fair to say that the vaccine, we know, protects people against severe disease and death.”

Dr Hampshire added: “It’s a safe drug, it’s been tested and we know that it works. Go and get the jab, get booked in.”

Read more: How to book your COVID booster jab

Liverpool Council released the footage from inside the hospital as part of a campaign to convince more people to get vaccines and boosters.

More than 43 million eligible people in the UK have had two doses of the vaccine but millions have yet to receive a single jab.

Data continues to show that the hospitalisation rate is far higher among unjabbed.

Around 42% of people admitted to hospital in England the last month were unvaccinated, despite people who haven't had a single dose making up only 19% of the population, according to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

Data covering the period between 15 November to 12 December shows that unvaccinated people accounted for a high percentage of hospital admissions, relative to the proportion of each age cohort which was not vaccinated.

Read more: COVID self-isolation cut to seven days with negative test in England

Among over 80s, 18% of those hospitalised with COVID were not vaccinated, despite making up just 4% of this age group.

For 18-29 year-olds, 63% of those admitted to hospital with COVID were not vaccinated, while 38% of this age-group have not had a jab.

In this analysis, 'vaccinated' means a person has had at least two doses, and 'unvaccinated' means they have had no doses.

The government is trying to speed up its COVID booster vaccine campaign to curb the spread of Omicron.

Boris Johnson said he would not introduce new restrictions ahead of Christmas, but new measures afterwards are possible.

The Prime Minister said he was yet to see enough evidence on the severity of Omicron and hospital admissions to justify stricter rules.

Watch: How the world could be better after COVID