The Green Party has urged Nadhim Zahawi MP, the minister responsible for the vaccine rollout, to prioritise all frontline workers who are at risk of coronavirus as they go about their jobs day-to-day.
The Green Party’s health spokesperson Larry Sanders has today [Wednesday 2 December] written to Mr Zahawi highlighting World Health Organisation guidance which suggests balancing age-related vulnerabilities against risk acquired through socially essential work.
The letter reads:
“First, we support the primary commitment to public health and the impulse to inoculate those most at risk first, but we believe that more variables than age alone, such as a person’s vulnerability to catching the virus, should be taken into consideration.
“We commend the decision to offer a vaccine to frontline health workers as a priority but would remind you about the many other frontline workers on whom we depend including teachers, public transport workers, shop-workers, and those who deliver our goods and collect our rubbish.”
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has today confirmed its priority list for vaccine rollout, which is now expected to begin next week. [2]
In the letter, Sanders said:
“Many of these people who have been keeping society going may have health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to Covid and they have all been risking their lives for the common good.
“They should receive greater priority when it comes to health protection.”
ENDS
Notes
1
The full letter can be read here: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/letters/Letter-to-Nadhim-Zahawi-02122020.pdf
2
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-who-will-get-the-pfizer-vaccine-first-12081391