THE arrival of the first batches of the Covid vaccine is very welcome. But the initial supplies are scarce, and in their distribution, I think the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation missed a trick.
For although older people, who are being prioritised, are most at risk, shouldn’t healthcare workers, especially those giving the injections, be at the front of the queue?
For however careful medics are, there’s still a risk they carry the virus and could breathe it onto the vaccine recipient, who will be ill before their immunity kicks in.
It’s not just the vaccinators; frontline health workers ‘who provide care to vulnerable people’ are meant to be a high priority. Yet in North-West London, as I write, there are no supplies for hospital medical staff, while many doctors and nurses are laid off, isolating, because their children have tested positive.
Only one GP colleague I know of has received the injection – and that’s because she works in a Covid assessment centre; her practice staff must wait until mid-January.
I’m hoping we will shortly see a re-think of priorities.
© Daily Mail
