Fight against Covid-19 reaches critical point
We are at a critical point in the fight against Covid.
The sobering daily figures remind us that the death toll is continuing to rise and the UK now has the highest death rate in the world.
Our most vulnerable have been venturing out to receive their vaccines at a time when the UK’s death rate is breaking new records for the most tragic and heartbreaking of reasons.
And while the number of new infections appears to be falling, there remain many dark days ahead before Britain can lift the lockdown and return to some semblance of normality.
That is why we are pressing for clarity from Ministers on three crucial elements of vaccine policy.
We face three real crunch issues as the Prime Minister warned that it will be hard to reach a target of vaccinating 15million of our country’s most vulnerable by February 15, because of the issues of supply.
First there is a real concern over the manufacture and supply of the vaccines.
Pfizer has said it is reducing deliveries for the next three to four weeks while it makes improvements to its factory in Belgium, while AstraZeneca expects to scale up to two million doses per week before or by mid-February.
There are fears these inconsistencies will impact the speed of the roll-out of the vaccine.
The second issue is the distance between the most vulnerable, who urgently need the jab, and the vaccination centres themselves.
And thirdly the information that is available to them so they know what they must do next.
Our petition to ensure that every one of the 11,000 community pharmacies – who stand ready and willing to play their part – last night hit more than 80,000 signatures.
We look on course to achieve 100,000 signatures within the next day.
If you haven’t yet signed the petition, please do so.
It is essential that no one is more than ten minutes away from a vaccination centre.
Our particular concern is for those elderly housebound, sometimes with a stream of carers visiting them, who still have no protection and remain bewildered as to when help might arrive.