Caroline Russell AM today argued for the prioritising of at risk frontline workers, including Transport for London (TfL) staff, police and the fire brigade, once the most vulnerable Londoners have been immunised. Her suggestions were echoed by statements made by Professor Kevin Fenton of Public Health England (PHE) at a special emergency plenary held today to discuss London’s plan for protecting people through the next stage of the pandemic.
Fenton today suggested how exposed people are in their jobs should be one of the factors considered in future vaccine prioritisation. He noted that a combination of age, occupation and other risk factors as studied by PHE could be a way for planning vaccine rollout in the city once the most vulnerable people have been immunised.
London is currently experiencing the worst stage of the coronavirus pandemic the city has yet faced. 1 in 30 people in the city are infected with the virus, with even greater concentrations in some areas [1]. Transport for London is now reporting 10% of their workers are off sick, isolating or shielding from the virus [2] and similar levels of worker sickness are now affecting other key services in the city.
Green Party London Assembly Member Caroline Russell said:
Workers in frontline services in London – from TfL staff to police and firefighters along with people delivering food and mail need to be protected from coronavirus rapidly. Prioritising vaccination for the people keeping the city running is a sensible step once the most vulnerable groups have been reached.
I asked Transport for London for figures on deaths for their workers last summer, and was shocked to see the majority were Black or Asian. I welcome Professor Kevin Fenton’s idea of combining the risk of working in certain jobs with other risk factors, so that people who are exposed and vulnerable to the virus are reached as a priority.
I’m also really concerned that there still isn’t reliable support for people to isolate. Hearing that 30 to 50% of those told to isolate aren’t able to because they need more support is heartbreaking. People who test positive for the virus, or who are taking precautions shouldn’t feel they have to break isolation just to feed themselves or keep their home.
The urgent need for vaccination was further underlined yesterday when Transport for London confirmed that 57 transport workers in their services had now died from coronavirus [3]. This was an increase of 8 from a month ago and the first rise of multiple deaths since these figures were first reported last summer when Caroline Russell AM obtained figures on the demographic breakdown of these deaths which showed the majority were Black or Asian[4].
Notes to editors
Comments from Professor Kevin Fenton at today’s plenary:
On vaccine prioritisation:
“So I think the government is right as you've said to focus on the most vulnerable because in the short, medium and long term that will help to take the pressure off of admissions into the hospital service. I think the evidence on key workers, occupations which are at increased risk, especially taking into consideration with age, and other factors which can increase the risk of acquiring severe disease may well be another way of thinking about who gets prioritised. In other words, rather than focusing on one characteristic - a person's job - it may be that it is the combination of risk factors that would help to identify an even better, more sophisticated prioritisation strategy. But as you know, decisions on policy are not mine, they're JCVI's. And I know that this issue is being actively considered. So we look forward to seeing what the recommendations are but as you know myself, Public Health England, and many others have done work on risk factors for severe disease. Which should I hope inform some of those decisions.”
On isolation:
“We're very concerned about people who may be exposed and who do not isolate. Isolation is one of the key control strategies and we know that a significant proportion it varies basically, but between 30 to 50%, who are infected may choose not to isolate for the whole period, because of concerns on their, their household autonomy, getting back to work, or maintaining a job. And so we need to systematically look at all the areas where we're missing people to identify what sort of support is needed, and this a part of our asks to national partners to help to streamline the process, strengthen funding that compliance is built in as well. And this is, again, a bit of a work they were keen to do during lockdown so that we emerge from lockdown with a stronger packages of support for people who need to isolate.”
Video clip of Caroline Russell AM’s questioning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqsE6A2EwWk
Yesterday the government released guidance that said phase two of vaccination may include “targeted vaccination of those at high risk of exposure and/or those delivering key public services” Covid-19 Vaccine Delivery Plan, 11 Jan 2021 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-covid-19-vaccines-delivery-plan
Any extra information / MQs
[1] Office of National Statistics Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: 8 January 2021 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/latest#main-points
[2] TfL issues travel advice to customers during national lockdown, 4 Jan 2021 https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2021/january/tfl-issues-travel-advice-to-customers-during-national-lockdown
[3] Message from Andy Byford on Coronavirus, 11 Jan 2021 https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/a-message-from-london-s-transport-commissioner
[4] Thirty-four bus driver deaths show need for public health focus, July 2020 https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/assembly/caroline-russell/34-bus-driver-deaths-show-need-for-better-health-0