A Suffolk hospital consultant has issued a desperate plea for fit young people to get Covid jabs as he struggles to save the life of two men who thought they didn't need vaccinations.

West Suffolk Hospital emergency consultant Dr Nick Jenkins expressed his frustration in a pair of tweets in which he expressed his fear that one of them could die and the other, who is self-employed, might be unable to earn money for his family for several months.

Dr Jenkins' tweets said: "If these men had had their vaccine, I suppose they would almost certainly not have needed hospital, let alone intensive care."

His tweets got significant reaction online, including from a London GP who said she had found resistance to vaccines among some patients. She said: "Commonest 'reason' is 'I'm just not ready' and no amount of discussion seems to work."

Dr Jenkins was medical director at the West Suffolk Hospital until earlier this year until he decided to return to a clinical role - and his current experience shows the importance of accepting vaccines.

A spokesman for the West Suffolk Hospital said: "Covid-19 is a dangerous virus, and we would encourage everyone eligible to get their free NHS vaccinations as soon as they possibly can.

"That applies to a child over 12 getting a vaccination through their school, an adult booking online or visiting a walk in clinic, or someone at higher risk getting their third booster vaccination.

"The vaccination dramatically reduces the chances of you needing hospital treatment should you catch the virus and offers valuable protection for you, your family, and friends, by reducing the chances of you passing it on."

Figures published in the British Medical Journal last month showed that between last December and July 84% of patients in hospital with Covid had not been vaccinated. 13% had had one jab and only 3% had had two jabs.

Government figures show that between January 2 and July 2 this year there were 51,281 deaths of people who had had a positive Covid test within the previous 28 days in England. Only 640 of those deaths were in people who had had both vaccinations.