The government’s current vaccination plan is to inoculate all key health workers, all people aged 54 and over, and clinically vulnerable people aged 16-64 by the spring. Only after this will under 50s be vaccinated. There is no semblance of a structured plan in sight for vaccinating under-50s, and there is currently no plan at all to vaccinate children. Should this portion of the population really be told to stay at home?

There is no semblance of a structured plan in sight for vaccinating under-50s, and there is currently no plan at all to vaccinate children. Should this portion of the population really be told to stay at home?

The UK is currently in national lockdown: regardless of age or health, we’ve all been told to stay at home. A recent study suggests that having previously been infected with COVID-19 provides an 83% rate of protection from reinfection (ie: immunity). So far, 2.6 million people in the UK have been vaccinated against COVID-19, and there have been 3.2 million positive cases. That totals 5.8 million, just under 10% of the UK population. Coupled with the fact that roughly 62% of the UK population is under the age of 50 (the threshold for the government’s priority vaccination list), 72% of the population is currently under house arrest for no logical reason!

The overwhelming majority of COVID-19 deaths occur in patients over the age of 80. When it comes to the end of February, and this age group have (hopefully) been inoculated, are the young and healthy still going to be subject to severe social restrictions? Following the logic of the government’s current vaccination plan, it makes more sense to ask the over 50s and the clinically vulnerable to shield now and the rest of the population to resume life as normal. Is it really appropriate to say that students must continue to miss out on face-to-face teaching, businesses must remain closed, and fathers cannot attend the birth of their children? With the vulnerable protected by early March, it would be wholly illogical to continue to ask them to press pause on their lives.

I am not confident that the government will lift restrictions, as despite the fact that lockdowns have not worked to curb the virus in the UK and have instead damaged the economy beyond belief, it is the strategy they continue to revert to in the absence of an alternative approach. There is an incongruence on the horizon that threatens to be an unnecessary and illogical continuation of the restrictions we are currently living with. The government needs to accept that you cannot have it both ways.

Israel’s vaccination success is thanks to its national healthcare system’s ability to rapidly disseminate information digitally. After the failure of the UK’s track and trace system, the UK should be following Israel’s lead and upscaling its technology.

We must not forget to plan for tomorrow. The UK could learn some lessons from Israel on this point. Nearly 1 in 5 Israelis have already received their first COVID-19 dose. More than 72% of the country’s initial target vaccination group having already been inoculated, and Israel anticipates that every citizen over the age of 16 will be vaccinated by the end of March. Although Israel’s population is significantly smaller than the UK’s, it has administered 21 doses per 100 people, compared to 4.3 doses per 100 people in the UK. Israel’s vaccination success is thanks to its national healthcare system’s ability to rapidly disseminate information digitally. After the failure of the UK’s track and trace system, the UK should be following Israel’s lead and upscaling its technology. The UK should also take note of Indonesia’s ‘Youth First’ strategy, where no national lockdowns have been held to protect the economy, and the vaccination effort is focussed on young working people.