Thin blue line should have been among first to get jags
DURING the pandemic, Police Scotland has received a record number of calls.
Crime is still happening, issues which affect the public are still happening – car thefts, fraud, nuisance neighbours, assaults, rape, murder, large scale public gatherings – it’s all go for frontline cops.
Pesky viruses that might kill you don’t just stop for those working at the sharp end of public life.
And yet they’re not in a priority group for a Covid vaccine.
This seems incredible given the number of interactions an average officer will have with members of the public on a daily basis. Despite misconceptions, police officers are human and just as vulnerable as the rest of us. They have their own personal challenges and face enormous risks every day.
The same could be said for teachers and shop workers they are coming into contact with hundreds of people every day but neither group are a priority unless they have an underlying health condition or meet the current age group being vaccinated.
We can’t expect teachers to bring on the next generation if they’re placed in situations that make them vulnerable to succumbing to Covid.
We look to police to protect us from all kinds of harm but what about the harm they face from a deadly virus?
Shop workers have slogged throughout the pandemic, they’re public-facing all day, every day.
Firefighters are another group who risk their lives daily even in normal times. They’re another group not considered a priority.
All of them are somebody’s mum, dad, granny, granddad, niece, nephew, son, daughter they deserve as much protection from the virus as health workers and carers do. None of them is invincible.
Time for the Scottish Government to accept their value to society and get them all jagged. Pronto.