Key workers will be given priority in second phase of vaccine distribution

Key workers are to be prioritised in the second phase of the vaccine roll out, after official Government guidance called on those working in public services to take precedence.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), that advises ministers, said teachers, transport workers and first responders should be next in line after those who are most at risk from coronavirus.

From next week people will begin to be vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, which was officially approved for use on Wednesday.

The UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the jab, enough to vaccinate 20 million Britons, which will first go to those in care homes and older age groups first, as well as to healthcare workers and patients with underlying health conditions.

The chairman of the JCVI Professor Wei Shen Lim said “over 99 per cent of those individuals who are at risk of dying from Covid-19" will be protected in the first phase.

However, the JCVI body has encouraged the Government to prioritise people based on their professions once all over-50s have been immunised.

The advice stated that those who are at “increased risk of exposure” because of their job should be considered as a priority in phase two.

“This could include first responders, the military, those involved in the justice system, teachers, transport workers, and public servants essential to the pandemic response,” it suggested.

However, the advice argued selecting priority occupations for vaccination was “considered an issue of policy, rather for JCVI to advise on”.

In the House of Commons, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there was "a debate to be had about the next order of priority".

Asked if teachers would be next in line, Mr Hancock said he hoped mass testing would be “effective” in ensuring fewer teachers have to self-isolate.

The doses will be rolled out as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, Mr Hancock said, with the first load released next week and then followed by "several millions" throughout December.

“Yet there is still more work to be done over this winter to get the vaccine rolled out,” he warned.

Unions have called for key workers to be given priority access to any approved coronavirus vaccine.

Gail Cartmail, assistant general secretary at Unite the Union, said: “It is absolutely correct that social care staff and health workers receive the vaccine at an early stage so they are protected and are not at risk of inadvertently transmitting the virus.

“However there are many other key workers who have suffered greatly during the pandemic and they should also receive appropriate prioritisation in receiving the vaccine.”

Analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested bus drivers, security guards and retail workers in England and Wales were at greater risk of death from coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic.