Police ‘feel neglected’ after Covid absences mount up

POLICE officers feel “let down” by the Scottish Government for not being prioritised for coronavirus vaccination.

David Hamilton, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, made the claim as it was revealed roughly 12% of the entire Police Scotland workforce is absent, with more than half of absences related to Covid-19.

“Out of a 23,000 strong workforce, there are currently 2,877 employees off work, with 1,784 of those related to coronavirus.

Mr Hamilton said the force asked Holyrood to prioritise police officers – but instead they received their jabs in accordance with their age range.

“Our frontline officers who are most at risk are the younger officers in their 20s,” he said.

“They were much later in the vaccine cycle in getting their vaccines.

“So there was that expectation that they would do that at-risk role of dealing closely with the public, but they didn’t get the protection from the vaccine. Officers feel a little bit neglected by the government on this.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have liaised closely with the Police Federation throughout the pandemic.

“We have adhered to the priority list devised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which was designed to target those at greatest risk.

“This list recognises that age is greatest risk of serious illness and death and providing protection to them is our priority.

“A proportion of the policing workforce will have fallen within the JCVI priority list and will have been offered the vaccine in line with this.”

Covid hits police, page 9.