6 January 2021

Dorset Police Federation calls on Government to add officers to the priority Covid-19 vaccination list

Dorset Police Federation is calling on the Government to add police officers to the priority Covid-19 vaccination list as a matter of urgency to ensure officers can keep themselves, their families and the public safe.

Whilst “frontline health and social care workers” are second in the Government’s published priority list for the vaccine roll-out, police officers do not feature at all on the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

“The Government needs to do the right thing by our officers and include them as a priority group in the Covid vaccine roll out,” said Anna Harvey, Chair of Dorset Police Federation.

“This is absolutely necessary to protect our members.

“Every day since the start of the pandemic Dorset Police officers have been putting themselves at risk dealing with Covid-19 related incidents. The majority are unable to work from home and now we can see fatigue starting to show and we have officers who are either off sick with the virus or self- isolating, adding pressure to the front-line services.

“This could be easily avoided if the Government makes what I see as an easy decision. I understand that our vulnerable communities need to be medically prioritised but there is a pressing and policing operational need for our front-line police officers and staff to be on that priority list too.

“Particularly as our colleagues will be the ones out there keeping people safe during the latest national lockdown.”

National Police Federation Chair John Apter said: “It’s time for the Prime Minister to do the right thing for police officers in the thick of this pandemic. I am calling on him to back my colleagues in their time of need as more are absent from work after contracting the virus or having to self-isolate.

“We’ve lobbied the NPCC who have raised this directly with Government. Despite positive responses no formal decision has been made, and we now need immediate Government action. That’s why the Prime Minister must make a decision - does he support police officers being prioritised for the COVID vaccine or not?

“This is certainly not about jumping the queue in front of the most vulnerable members of society or those on the NHS frontline. It’s about ensuring policing is resilient enough to cope with the demands of the pandemic and that my colleagues can continue to support the public during these exceptional times.”

According to the Government, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation “does not advise further prioritisation by occupation during the first phase of the [Vaccination] programme.”

It adds: “Occupational prioritisation could form part of a second phase of the programme, which would include healthy individuals from 16 years of age up to 50 years of age, subject to consideration of the latest data on vaccine safety and effectiveness.”