Young should be priority for vaccine

WITH reference to Keith Wheeler’s letter published on the 7th January, l would like to add my thoughts on the rollout of the vaccine.

I totally agree with his views on who should have got the vaccine first, including the teachers.

But then – and this will surely cause some upset with the older generation – l believe the terms of reference to combat this pandemic have changed from the first lockdown? That next in line should be the 25- to 50-year-olds?

My logic behind this thinking is this age group l would believe to be the main breadwinners/earners, still with young families, mortgages and possibly businesses to run, and the highest taxpayers l would think?

Now there is bound to be a grumble amongst the aged and those given the title as the most vulnerable – and rightly so during the first lockdown, when many a mistake was made with Covidcarrying patients being sent from hospitals back into care homes, and a track and trace of Covid carriers still not fully working, or even in place.

The disastrous decisions and dithering by the government meant the elderly were most vulnerable.

But my point is that since this is the third lockdown we are far more informed and aware of the risks. Care homes are now much safer with plenty of PPE and staff that will be vaccinated and well aware of the risks, with more stringent health and safety procedures are in place, etc.

As a man of 69 years, and having suffered two heart attacks, l take my own precautions, as l did in the first lockdown... l remain at home, shop locally, l do not mix with other people, l use a face mask, and I feel that with all these and other precautions I am safe from the virus “using common sense” – and I believe the vast majority of the older generation have plenty of this!

This is why l feel we are not the most vulnerable?

We need to keep the country running and locking down our most productive generations I feel is the wrong way to go... get them back to work, but safely.

l look forward to other readers’ views on this?

Paul Benney Crantock, Cornwall