News Comment: We need to know more about the vaccine programme

After a static 12 months, which has been punctuated by the sadness of - as is now well known - more than 100,000 Covid-linked deaths, and the economic hardship that lockdown has brought to many more, we all desperately need to make a success of the inoculation process.

So far we commend the government on several things: for acting fast to approve the vaccine; for ordering doses quickly; and for setting out clear guidance on how to vaccinate the most vulnerable first.

And obviously let us make very clear that we have nothing but praise and gratitude for those on the ground who are administering it. The News has reported from several clinics and our reporters have seen the good-natured, confident way those administering the vaccine have gone about the task, and we know anecdotally that at peak there are hubs working their way through thousands of patients a day.

However, therein lies the key. We know this anecdotally, not through any hard fact, and when we ask for clarification from health authorities everyone passes the buck.

Even though there are national daily figures available for vaccinations - so we can tell you with ease that 311,060 people were first-dose vaccinated on Tuesday, meaning 7,164,387 have been so far in total, and that 1,710 received their second dose then, down from 1,968 on Monday - there is no way of breaking it down. There should be, of course, as these national figures are made up of locally-submitted ones. But the local Clinical Commissioning Groups say they do not hold the data, while NHS England says it will not release it. At best, we have a once-a-week update from NHS England giving figures for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as a whole; better but still not good enough.

Because the fact is that this does matter. We read that vaccination supply is becoming tight, in rumours emanating from Westminster and from Europe, but we have no way of quantifying it. We also read reports of a levelling off of vaccine supplies - where regions that have done well in administering doses are having their next batches diverted to those regions where delivery has not been as good.

We see on social media that doctors who have done a terrific job locally in running vaccination hubs are concerned that they can get no clarity over vaccine supplies. They cannot plan ahead, send out appointments and rota on staff as they do not know how many doses they will be receiving in the weeks to come.

And we know that there are people within those priority groups who are still waiting to hear when they will get the call for their jab. It is a worrying time for them.

If we had a transparent data system reporting how many people each area of the country had seen vaccinated, and how many doses were earmarked to be delivered in the near future, it would set many minds at rest. It would stop the fears that some areas are being ‘punished’ with fewer vaccines in order to help out the more slowly-progressing London boroughs. It would give professionals the confidence that they could look to the future, and it would set those of us waiting - or waiting for loved ones - to be vaccinated reassurance that progress is being made.

The leader of Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, has written to the government for reassurance that everyone who should be vaccinated in the city will receive an invitation.

We fully appreciate that a Liberal Democrat politician will not often be wholly complimentary to a Conservative government, but his point about request assurances is a valid one, and springs from the same point that information is not being made available freely enough.

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He says that he has heard that in some areas there have been more vaccinations than others, and wants to make sure we are receiving enough of the vaccine to go around - adding that he had heard of a 103-year-old who had only received a first dose relatively late.

The News and its sister titles launched the Shot in the Arm campaign to lobby for community pharmacies to be involved in the vaccination push. We stand by our call, knowing that there are 11,000 pharmacies that could help. But part of our campaign was to call on the government to set out its vaccination programme more clearly, a call that has only become more pressing.

For example locally, we still need to learn more about the mass vaccination centre at St James. No opening date was mooted when the plan was revealed, and then at a Hampshire County Council meeting last week an NHS manager said that it would be open ‘by the beginning of February’. We sincerely hope this is the case, but as yet there has been no announcement. Is it on track? Is it delayed? If so is this because of vaccine supply issues? Who knows? Certainly the public does not.

As we said earlier, our aim is not solely to throw brickbats at the government. They warrant criticism on many subjects but the vaccination programme has so far - although perhaps because it has been locally, and not nationally administered - worked well.

But we all have the right to know more about progress. Quite literally our lives depend on it. We are owed transparency.