There is a “powerful case” for police officers and other key workers such as teachers to be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines, Scotland’s most senior police officer has said.
Chief constable Iain Livingstone said hundreds of officers and other police staff already have benefits from being given “surplus” vaccines - unused jabs that would otherwise have gone to waste.
He added that there was a “very powerful case for police officers and police staff, indeed school teachers and nursery care workers and others involved in public life, key workers” to be a priority for vaccines.
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The chief constable said that he would continue to make the case to the Scottish government that Police Scotland officers and staff should be a priority group, once the initial rollout of the vaccine to those aged 50 and above and those with underlying medical conditions has been completed.
Teachers and police ‘should be prioritised for vaccine’
He spoke as he gave his latest update to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).
He stressed it was “an absolute priority” for him to ensure the safety of his staff, saying this “goes to the core purpose of my duties as chief constable”.
A paper from the chief constable, written in advance of the SPA meeting, disclosed that by 15 February more than 400 officers and staff had received the first dose of the vaccination as part of an initiative in which local health boards give “surplus vaccines, which would otherwise be wasted, to frontline officers and staff”.
The chief constable and other senior figures from Police Scotland will also “continue to discuss the national vaccination programme with the Scottish government ministers and senior officials”, he said.
The police will stress the “legitimate concerns of officers and staff about exposure they encounter during their daily duties”.
Last week the EIS, Scotland’s biggest teaching union, called for a “broader interpretation” of government guidance when it comes to special needs staff receiving vaccinations, warning that sometimes staff who have not been given access to the jab are working in the same buildings and classrooms as colleagues who have received it.
