Strike a balance on vaccination

I would not change a word of my statement “trying to balance vaccinations between the most vulnerable and those most at risk”.

The most vulnerable were deemed by the experts to be the elderly hence first in the rollout, those most at risk were, and still are, protected by local lockdown, track and trace, erection of screens, social distancing and PPE.

This is not perfect hence the use of the word “trying”.

Alan Davis is rightly concerned about other vulnerable patients, those with underlying health problems and presumably those in close contact with the general public. Both these groups should be aware of the risks and following the guidelines to keep them safe.

Personally I would not have wanted to burden GPs with the work of trawling though their hundreds of patients attempting to prioritise them with regard to age, health or work. The GPs at our local practice had enough to do helping with vaccinations whilst still carrying on with their normal consultations.

I acknowledge that this has changed with many patients now being prioritised but this is easier as the number waiting for vaccination has been substantially reduced.

Finally, I cannot agree that we are badly served by our NHS, especially when compared to many other countries.

Costs and funding are an entirely different matter and I would probably agree with many claims of previous underfunding, wasted money and the terrible programme of privatisation. Brian Barnard