Get Covid jab says Luton mum who gave birth to twins in coma

Sultana Ashiq, pictured with twins Aizah and Amarah and partner Nayeem Ahmad

A mother whose twins were born while she was in a coma after she caught Covid-19 has spoken out to encourage vaccine uptake.

Sultana Ashiq, 34, from Luton, Bedfordshire, caught the virus when she was nearly 31 weeks pregnant and was in intensive care for 46 days.

Her twins Aizah and Amarah were successfully born by Caesarean section.

She called on people to "get the vaccine to protect yourself, your family and your loved ones".

Ms Ashiq was ineligible for the vaccine at the time, but wants all expectant mothers to get vaccinated against coronavirus.

She was treated at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge and the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital.

"I went to hospital and deteriorated really fast," she told BBC Politics East.

"They were unable to manage my fever and had to induce a coma, and extract the babies with an emergency C-Section.

"I remained in a coma for 21 days."

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sikh Temple has been used as a pop-up vaccination clinic

After recovering, she received all three doses of the vaccination.

"My family got Covid again but not too bad and I was around them and didn't get the slightest Covid," she said.

Luton has been recognised as having one of the lowest uptakes in vaccinations in England.

While nationally 63.8% of people have received the booster jab, only 37.1% of people in Luton have received this dose.

Reaching out

In December, the government announced an extra £22.5m in funding to help communities increase vaccine take-up and Luton was one of the places that benefited.

Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sikh Temple became a pop-up vaccine centre to try and reach out to communities that were not getting the jab. Luton is a culturally diverse town, with more than 130 languages and dialects spoken by residents.

Bal Ahir, a volunteer at the temple, said: "Leading the charge during the first vaccine clinic was the president [of the temple] and priest who both took the jab, and that was quite symbolic for the community at large to see trusted leaders of the community take the vaccine."

Sally Cartwright, the director of public health in Luton, said more needed to be done to increase the number of people in Luton who have been vaccinated

Public Health England says people from black and Asian backgrounds have between a 10% and 15% higher risk of death from Covid-19 compared with the white British population.

Sally Cartwright, director of public health in Luton, said: "Our uptake has really improved and we've been doing a lot of work.

"We have a mobile bus that gets out into the community to vaccinate people. But our rates are still lower than we would like them to be, particularly in certain areas and in younger populations.

"So there is still a lot of work to be done."

Politics East airs on BBC One in the East on Sunday, 23 January at 10:00 GMT and can be viewed on the BBC iPlayer afterwards.