Officers must wait their turn for Covid vaccine
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) says its officers are “enraged” at the failure of the First Minister to acknowledge the risk to their health during the Covid-19 crisis, amid calls for them to be given priority access to the vaccine.
Speaking at the Scottish government’s coronavirus briefing yesterday (January 25), First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reiterated that she would continue to follow a priority list from experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to reach the most vulnerable people first.
Ms Sturgeon said the vaccination programme will be “focusing on the groups that allow the greatest impact on saving lives”.
Responding to a question from Radio Clyde News, she suggested it could be May before police officers who are not in priority groups receive the Covid vaccine.
It comes after reports that coastguard teams and security staff have already started to get the vaccine.
SPF chair David Hamilton said: “Nobody disagrees with the approach of prioritising vaccinations for the old and the vulnerable, or for frontline health and social care workers. But we all know that individuals, not in that cohort, are also being vaccinated as a consequence of the roles they are doing.
“For the First Minister to airbrush that reality out of her earlier response has enraged police officers, many of whom continue to put themselves at personal risk on the public health front line.”
He added: “Their simple question is, where do those individuals who are security guards, undertakers, religious leaders, foodbank volunteers, volunteer rescue teams or even home workers, who are not in the priority cohort, fit on the JCVI list? There is no consistency in this policy and we are left wondering if the Scottish government has lost control of its vaccination programme altogether.”
As of Tuesday morning (January 26) Public Health Scotland said 437,900 people had received the first dose of the Covid vaccination with 6,060 receiving their second dose.
It also reported 1,049 new cases of Covid-19 and a further 87 deaths of people who had tested positive.
Earlier this month, SPF general secretary Calum Steele wrote to Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf stressing that police officers “do not work in a clinical setting” and “should to be prioritised in the vaccination programme”.
Mr Steele said the SPF cannot accept that the police service, which is “so critical for the functioning of society, and so critical in responding to this public health emergency”, is not subject to the same considerations in the vaccination programme as other priority groups.
Mr Steele also warned that with the new strain of the virus “ripping through the country”, they were seeing a steady increase in coronavirus-related absences across Police Scotland.
“Some of our stations have experienced absence rates in excess of 40 per cent and many of our critical departments live in constant fear that an infection could wipe out their ability to function,” said Mr Steele. “Given the widespread non-compliance with the regulations (granted by a small, but still considerable minority) it will also directly impact on the ability of the police to continue our sizeable contribution to curtailing community transmission. We cannot imagine this possibility would be one the government would welcome.”