We must be first in vaccine queue, say police and NHS workers

NHS workers and police are asking to be at the front of the vaccine queue, with priority over the elderly, so they can tackle winter surges in Covid-19.

Medics warned of a January crisis if swathes of NHS staff were struck down or forced to isolate due to exposure. The new strain of the virus, which the Prime Minister said on Saturday was up to 70 per cent more transmissible, has led to increased worry about the risk to staff.

Current guidelines prioritise carehome residents and workers as well as over-80s. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the heads of the various hospital trusts were concerned about the current policy.

He said: “There’s a very strong view from the NHS that we should keep that prioritisation under review on the grounds that there is a case to vaccinate front-line NHS workers.

“I’m struck by the number of chief executives who said to me they feel very strongly their staff should be vaccinated. There is clearly a risk, as we can see from the figures, of NHS staff acting as carriers because you can have it and not know that you’re spreading it.”

Dr Zainab Najim, of the Doctors’ Association, said the order of priority was affecting staff morale, after spending months at risk. “I think January will be very difficult. If we’ve not vaccinated staff and we have sickness due to selfisolation and possible infection, then we’re going to be in big trouble – more than we already are,” she said.

More than 500,000 people in the UK have received the Pfizer-biontech vaccine, Boris Johnson said yesterday, the “vast bulk” of which went to people aged over 80. But Dr Matt Morgan, a consultant in intensive care medicine at

the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, said: “If I were involved with deciding the priority groups, I would probably target healthcare workers who are at the highest risk.” It was still unclear if the vaccine prevented transmission of the virus, meaning those most at risk of dying should be prioritised, including healthcare workers, he added.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, told BBC News: “I find it breathtaking that the Government isn’t for one minute thinking, ‘we need to vaccinate our front-line officers so they can protect themselves and the public’.”

However, Prof Wei Shen Lim, Covid19 chairman for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said advice on prioritisation was intended to prevent as many deaths as possible. “As the single greatest risk of death from Covid-19 is older age, prioritisation is primarily based on age,” he said.

He added that inoculating everyone in the priority groups would “prevent around 99 per cent of Covid-19 deaths”.