Forces told to prepare for roll-out of vaccines to officers and staff
20 January 2021
The Home Secretary says she has the full support of health minister Matt Hancock in pushing for police officers to be prioritised in the next wave of the roll-out of the Covid-19 jabs.
Priti Patel, interviewed by Nick Ferrari on LBC, said that she had been working with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to push policing, firefighters, teachers and other frontline workers when it comes to getting the vaccine.
She explained the Government was ‘absolutely working to achieve that’.
And she said she had been telling policing partners to get ready for the roll-out to their officers and staff once they were given the green light, describing it as a ‘massive logistical challenge’.
“While the JCVI makes the final decision on the order in which people will get the vaccine, it is good to hear that the Home Secretary is doing all she can to ensure that police officers are given some kind of priority,” says Jon Nott, chair of West Midlands Police Federation.
“We all fully appreciate the need for frontline health workers, the elderly and vulnerable, those in care homes and care home staff to be the first to get the vaccine but I think it is also important for police officers and others on the frontline in terms of providing essential services to be pushed up the queue too.
“They have been putting their lives on the line as part of the nation’s response to the pandemic and they should be given the protection the vaccine brings as a matter of priority – not just for the benefit of their own health but also to help maintain the resilience of the services they provide.
“The Home Secretary and the health secretary seem to understand that and we now just need to see the JCVI act.”
Ms Patel’s comments come after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick yesterday told LBC she was “baffled” as to why officers were not nearer the front of the queue for the jab.
• Last week, West Midlands Police Federation, the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner sent a joint letter to police minister Kit Malthouse and Covid vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi to ask for police to be prioritised in the roll-out.
