Asda leads by example over vaccines rollout – The Yorkshire Post says

As he said, his firm has “an extensive nationwide logistics network” that can “support the storage and distribution of the vaccine” and that its pharmacists inoculate shoppers for flu each winter.

Asda, and its rivals, are clearly keen for superstores across the country, including Yorkshire, to play their full part in this national endeavour which has seen over seven million people given at least one jab.

As the ‘Shot In The Arm’ campaign being led by The Yorkshire Post, and its sister papers, continues to demonstrate, the 11,000-strong network of local pharmacies, including those in supermarkets, needs to be utilised by the Government if the most vulnerable, or those still reluctant to venture out, are to be inoculated. Familiarity will help them overcome their understandable fears.

But it is also important to acknowledge the role of supermarket as trading standards staff in North Yorkshire undertake extra checks to ensure that they are complying with Covid rules on social distancing and so on. Despite their shelves being stripped bare by panic buyers, they have maintained supplies and made their stores safe – the issue, in many cases, is the behaviour of those shoppers who still appear to be oblivious to the pandemic and risk to public health.

Rather than penalising stores, the unspoken message in North Yorkshire County Council’s edict, councils should be working with retailers on how best to maintain standards and, where necessary, improve them for the benefit of all.

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