Public back pharmacies over vaccines – The Yorkshire Post says

Yet, despite the clear public interest, there’s little likelihood, at present, of the ‘shot in the arm’ campaign being led by this paper and its JPI Media sister titles being considered by MPs as the number of supporters tops 120,000.

That is because it was ruled out of order when it was first posted on Parliament’s website, ostensibly because it aligns too closely with existing Government policy, and this company has, instead, had to use the Change.org platform to ascertain the level of support.

However it is not too late to remedy this if sufficient backbench MPs, and preferably from both major parties, are willing to use the means at their disposal to instigate a debate. No one, not least this newspaper, under-estimates the scale of the logistical operation now underway that has already seen more than six million people receive at least one Covid jab. Compared to other countries, the response has been very impressive – despite concerns about jabs earmarked for Yorkshire being switched elsewhere.

And while Health Secretary Matt Hancock says, reassuringly, that three-quarters of all over-80s have now received at least one jab, he, himself, readily admits that some people are proving harder to reach than others because of factors like geography, fear and mistrust.

This is where the 11,000-plus community pharmacies come into their own. Trusted by their patients, their experience and expertise now needs to be utilised to enhance the effectiveness of the current strategy and, in particular, target the forgotten vulnerable. And it’s still not too late to do so.

YOU can add your support to the pharmacy campaign by following this link.

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