Government inefficiency risks undermining Covid vaccination programme

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Moira Edwards, 88, gets a Covid jab at the Epsom Downs vaccine centre in Surrey (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Professor John Bell has stated that the whole country could be vaccinated in five days if the authorities got their act together. Where is the leadership to make this happen?

We have large empty hotels, pharmacies, assembly halls, church halls, community halls and schools, many of which would be ideal to help the mass vaccination programme. So use them. We are now told that seven vaccination centres will be open for 12 hours a day, as if that is wonderful. Sheer madness. The centres should be open 24 hours a day with dedicated public transport to the centres; the elderly vaccinated during the day, younger people vaccinated at night.

We have already been told that Public Health England’s stifling bureaucracy is holding up the vaccination effort. Boris Johnson said last year that it was like being in a war, so take emergency powers, requisition space for vaccination centres and enforce swift action, just as you would in a war.

Far too much talk of “hoping” and “intending” and not enough “doing” will ensure that the programme is, at best, only a partial success.  

Glynne Williams

Walthamstow

Blame game

I find it rich in the extreme that the government is now putting the blame for increasing Covid infections onto the public, when only three weeks ago that same government relaxed restrictions over Christmas. This despite clear and multiple warnings that the nation would pay for it in increased hospitalisations and deaths in January.

For reasons of short-term popularity they allowed multi-generational families to meet at a time when it was already known that the new variant was up to 70 per cent more transmissible.  

Sadly but predictably, blaming someone, anyone, for their own incompetence has proved to be a trademark of this Conservative government.  

Arthur Streatfield

Bath

You recently published a report about the Cumberland Infirmary having to send patients to Dumfries and Newcastle as it has become overwhelmed by Covid (News, 6 January).  

Last Saturday, as part of my daily exercise, I walked down the road at the end of my street, the A7, and on to the Eden Bridge. I was amazed by the amount of traffic, so amazed I did a count with the stopwatch on my phone. Excluding vans and lorries, there were about 80 cars a minute going over the bridge – where were all these people going?

I couldn’t help comparing that to last April when I was able to walk down the middle of the bridge unhindered. People in Carlisle seem to be unaware of what’s going on in their local hospital. Sadly this is probably fairly typical of what’s going on elsewhere.

Ian K Watson

Carlisle

Travel chaos

Further to your recent article concerning international travel at this time, I point out that many airlines are demanding far more than a negative Covid-19 test.

Having journeyed from Scotland to France, on 3 January, I was met with unhelpful easyJet staff, asking not only for the negative test, but for a utility bill to prove I had an address in Paris. Nowhere on the government website is this aspect mentioned, and the French government has also failed to notify travellers about it. I wonder if the airline is to blame.  

In any case, being a student, I wasn't able to procure a utility bill, since I live in a student residence. Thankfully, I managed to find other proof of accommodation, which was accepted (quite grudgingly) by the staff. To make matters more surreal, around 10 French nationals were denied boarding over the utility bill, and the cabin crew on the plane were deeply apologetic for what they saw as unnecessary delay and hassle.

When I finally arrived in France, nothing was asked for bar the negative coronavirus test. I wonder if the French nationals got the refund they so deserve.

If we, as the public, are to comply with ever-changing requirements of travel, the government must notify us clearly. It hasn't, so something is amiss.  

Anthony MacIsaac

Paris  

Trumping each other

I am so tired of hearing your columnists compare/liken those who voted to leave the European Union with Trump and his supporters. Perhaps the reverse is true. Having voted to leave the EU myself, I know, in common with the millions of others who did the same, that there is absolutely no commonality between the two.

Four years ago, Hilary Clinton and the Democrats conceded gracefully when they lost (despite gaining more votes) after a democratic vote. This year, Trump did not accede to a democratic vote but tried to force a change.

The Scottish Nationalists have not accepted a democratic vote and want to keep trying until they get the result they want. The Irish forced a second vote on the constitutional terms of the Maastricht Treaty in the Nineties to change the vote they didn’t like.

And those who voted to remain in the EU are doing the same – like Trump and the SNP, they are not willing to accept a democratic vote, which was strongly confirmed in the last general election. They now resort to hectoring and belittling those of us who believe it was the right thing to do.

I have been on the losing side of many elections and, like the majority of right-minded people, I have had to accept the result and get on with making the best of it.

Our country will thrive as it always has.

Christine Latham

Flamborough, Yorkshire

Law to blame over Windrush

Excellent article expressing the views and opinions of Caroline Nokes ('Government’s ‘inhuman’ approach to immigration will not work and will cost more, says former Home Office minister’, 10 January).

As a former minister she appears to have an excellent understanding of the job and a vision which many would be proud to share regardless of any political persuasion.

One minor concern, however. Ms Nokes states: “You have to be able to look at a decision and know that it’s been fairly scrutinised and that the decision is the right one, and that’s where the legal system comes in.”

The law is the law and often it is not (seen as) fair. Surely something like the Windrush fiasco occurred because the legislation itself was wrong and subsequently gave scope for a variety of interpretations/implementations, which caused so much damage.

Peter H Williams

Ayrshire