Ofcom will not investigate Lorraine show over inaccurate Covid-19 claim

Media watchdog Ofcom has said it will not investigate ITV's Lorraine after Dr Hilary Jones made an inaccurate statement about Covid-19 figures.

Ofcom received 3,833 complaints after Dr Hilary incorrectly said 90% of the Covid-19 patients in hospital were unvaccinated - a figure that was more applicable to those in intensive care.

The claim was made on 6 December. A clarification was aired two days later.

Ofcom said it had warned ITV to take "greater care" in future.

However, the watchdog stopped short of a formal investigation.

'Greater protection'

Presenter Lorraine Kelly repeated Dr Hilary's claim on the 6 December, with actor Martin Kemp also giving out the inaccurate statistic on Lorraine the following day.

But Ofcom said that it took into account the fact that the daytime programme was live and that a clarification was broadcast on 8 December.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: "This programme incorrectly referenced the proportion of unvaccinated Covid-19 patients in hospital. We have told ITV that greater care should be taken by trusted medical experts when presenting facts and figures on public health issues.

"However, given official statistics and research have consistently shown that vaccination against Covid-19 offers greater protection against serious health consequences, we do not consider that the error was sufficient to materially mislead viewers on this main point of discussion."

According to the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), about 40% of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the last three weeks of December were unvaccinated.

Figures for intensive care are not as up-to-date, and predate the Omicron variant. However, the latest data suggests that the percentage of Covid-19 patients admitted to critical care who were unvaccinated decreased from 75% in May 2021 to 47% in October 2021.

However, the figures only cover admissions, not length of stay, so it is possible that unvaccinated patients become more seriously ill, and remain in Intensive Care for longer.

The percentage of unvaccinated patients admitted to hospital has fallen because a large share of the UK's population has now received a vaccination.

If even a small proportion of those people gets seriously ill, it may be enough to outnumber the severe cases which are more common among the unvaccinated.