Asked by Sky News' Kay Burley what he would say to people who are still reluctant to get their jabs, Dr Ed Patrick, a COVID-19 intensive care unit anaesthetist rebutted the typical hesitancy arguments around not knowing what is in the vaccine.

He said: "What I'd say to people who are still hesitant is that if you end up with COVID and end up in hospital, you need a cocktail of drugs in order to keep you alive when you come into intensive care, all of which have side effects.

"The other thing to say is that people talk about the side effects with vaccines or that they're worried about things like clots," Dr Patrick added.

"Well COVID can give you clots and people who come into hospital who are suffering from COVID will go onto medication to help stop their blood clotting to that extent.

"So all this can be stopped by having the vaccine so if you're on the fence about it or still wondering I definitely recommend getting one."

On whether people in hospital appear to have remorse for not getting the vaccine, he said they definitely "think about whether they can turn back time" and get the vaccine.

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Dr Patrick added: "Once that horse has bolted there's no going back to getting the vaccine so there are definitely feelings of remorse."

He also said there is a lot of "frustration all round" that many hospitalisations could have been prevented.

Dr Patrick said that it is "mostly unvaccinated people" that he sees in ICU, adding: "The vast, vast majority are unvaccinated"

His comments come as the government urges people to get their jab as the new Omicron variant is seeing COVID cases surge.

Meanwhile, speculation and debates continue over whether the government should bring in more restrictions to curb the virus.