Vaccinating poorest must be priority, says health adviser

THE poor should join healthcare workers at the front of the queue for a vaccine as “wealth is the best shielding strategy” to protect against the coronavirus, according to a leading expert.

Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said that there was a consensus that all healthcare staff – from hospital cleaners and porters to intensive care unit (ICU) doctors and care home nurses – must be protected first.

Who comes next is debated, but inoculating the working class first would protect many of the groups most at risk of catching Covid-19, Prof Sridhar said. Far from being the “great leveller”, the pandemic has disproportionately affected the poorest in society.

There are more than 140 vaccines in development across the globe, with almost 20 in human clinical trials. Though experts are confident that one of these candidates will prove effective against Covid-19, initial demand will inevitably surpass supply while manufacturing capacity is ramped up.

Prof Sridhar, who advises the Scottish Government on Covid-19, said she believed that a UK strategy based on deprivation would see many of those most at risk prioritised. “The chance of catching Covid-19 is linked to your living arrangements and your daily exposure to risk, as well as your occupation,” said Prof Sridhar. “Deprivation is also the most convincing explanation for why we’re seeing so many more people in black, minority and ethnic (BAME) groups being badly affected.”

Prof Sridhar added that this strategy would see those in “super spreading” occupations vaccinated first, including taxi drivers, security guards and cleaners. “These are people who in their daily lives encounter a lot of people, and therefore it might have a broader protective effect if they had immunity.”

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has signalled that priority might be given to “front line health and social care workers and those at increased risk”.