All 43 branches of the Police Federation have joined forces to accuse the Governments of England and Wales of a dereliction of duty after health secretary Matt Hancock revealed at Monday’s press briefing that police officers would only be considered for prioritisation for the Covid jab once the first phase of the roll-out programme was completed.
This would mean officers would only get called up for the vaccine according to their age group, leaving many frontline officers without the protect afforded by the jab for months.
“When the vaccine roll-out programme was first announced we clearly had no issue at all with the fact that the elderly, the clinically vulnerable, frontline NHS staff and those who work in care homes were at the head of the queue,” says Phil Jones, chair of Staffordshire Police Federation.
“But, as the weeks have gone on and we are now starting to work down the list of groups in the first phase of the roll-out, I think it’s time for more frontline workers to be considered for prioritisation and that includes police officers, police staff, teachers and perhaps supermarket staff and taxi drivers.
“There are several groups of workers who have been on the frontline throughout the pandemic serving the public and providing essential services. Police officers are putting their health at risk every day when they carry out their duties. They can’t always socially distance due to the nature of their role. But it’s not just their own health they are putting on the line. Many are deeply fearful of taking the virus back to their loved ones at home and we know there is a risk that a police officer not showing any symptoms could be passing on the virus to the public while going from one job to the next.
“Added to this, they have the added anxiety caused by those mindless individuals who have been quick to weaponise the virus by spitting or coughing over officers while claiming to have Covid.
“For police officers to now hear that they will not be given any kind of priority in the first phase of the vaccine roll-out programme just seems completely out of order to me. Government should be doing more to ensure that those who protect our communities are protected in return.”
The open letter, which is signed by branch chairs and national Federation chair, John Apter, says: “The health secretary could not even offer a guarantee beyond the first phase, only that frontline officers will be ‘considered’ for vaccination in the next phase. This is not only unacceptable to our members, it is also a dereliction of both Governments’ duties. It shows that warm words and platitudes mean very little.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel has publicly called for frontline policing officers and staff to receive some priority in the vaccination programme but it is the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that makes the final decision.
The Federation letter quotes the JCVI guidance, however, which is that ‘frontline health and social care workers at high risk of acquiring infection, at high individual risk of developing serious disease, or at risk of transmitting infection to multiple vulnerable persons or other staff in a healthcare environment, are considered of higher priority for vaccination than those at lower risk’.
The letter goes on: “The risks presented to our members show that this guidance applies to them. The nature of policing means our members are not always able to mitigate the risk of contracting and spreading this deadly virus. They often have to get up close and personal in many situations, which means the risk is ever present.
“One in three officers have reported being threatened by somebody claiming to have Covid. The level of incidents of people weaponising the virus – by coughing or spitting at them – has increased considerably during the pandemic. On behalf of Government, police officers are putting their lives on the line every day and run a very real risk of becoming infected and exposing colleagues, family members as well as the public.
“Thanks to the success and speed of the vaccination programme we know it would take less than a day to vaccinate the entire police service in England and Wales if the political will is there to do it.”
