CHAOS will ensue if the Government bows to pleas for groups to ‘jump the queue’ for Covid vaccinations, a leading city Conservative has warned.
Coun Alan Amos called on his Government to ‘resist the latest round of special pleading’ and stay the course with its current strategy.
His comments follow calls from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for teachers and support staff across the country to be vaccinated during the February half-term.
The Labour leader made his pitch against the backdrop of the need to reopen schools which he labelled a ‘national priority’.
But his views were dismissed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson who called on Sir Keir to explain which vaccines he would take from which vulnerable groups against the scientific advice being provided to the Government.
Speaking to the Observer, Coun Amos backed his party’s current course and warned of the dangers of veering off course.
“Its programme is quite rightly based purely on the medical evidence which unequivocally shows those most likely to become ill or die from the virus is directly related to age, so the priority categories are based on age, which makes it straightforward for the NHS to identify and call people forward in an orderly manner,” he said.
“If you start moving one group up the list based on occupation, for example, how can the NHS even identify them? Where do you draw the line with other groups? And which medical priority groups are going to lose out? It will be chaos.
“Of course, everybody has some element of risk but, for example, that for teachers is low compared to elderly people.
“So let us hope the rollout will continue to be clinically-based for those most in need, and not based on how vocal certain groups are, or on the basis of who you know in high places.
“Any priority system has to be clear and – above all – fair, and seen to be fair. British people do not like queue-jumpers. The current system is the quickest way out of lockdown,” he added.
Coun Amos’s comments come in the week another vaccination centre opened in the city.
Volunteers at St Peter’s Baptist Church began vaccinating frontline health and social care workers as well as the most vulnerable patient groups on Monday (February 1).
Operations manager David McDowell said: “We will be inviting patients based on the JCVI priority list, targeting the most vulnerable patients first – so we’re asking patients not to attend the centre if they haven’t booked an appointment.”
