Postal workers in vaccine plea amid deliveries backlog

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://islingtontribune.com/article/pos ... es-backlog

Parts of Islington are among areas of the country worst affected by staff absences due to coronavirus

POSTAL workers say they should be considered for priority Covid-19 vaccines to help keep the service afloat.

The calls come amid a Royal Mail delivery backlog due to coronavirus-related absences, which has seen Highbury and Upper Holloway among the worst-affected areas in the country.

A spokesperson for the Communications Workers Union (CWU) said “the nature of their job puts them [postal staff] at a higher risk than the general population”, adding: “Throughout this pandemic, our members have gone to work every day, risking serious illness or death to keep Britain connected.

“Just like care workers, teachers, shop workers and many others, our members provide an essential service, and we urge the government to consider them for priority vaccinations after all other vulnerable groups have been vaccinated.”

Postal staff are working later hours to reduce the backlog but due to the high numbers of online shoppers throughout the Christmas period the service has struggled to keep up. Royal Mail hired 33,000 temporary workers to help with the huge demand for parcels.

Highbury councillor Caroline Russell, who is also a Green Party London Assembly member, said: “Our posties have done an incredible job throughout the pandemic delivering Christmas and birthday cards along with practical letters with hospital appointments or new bank cards.

“Workers in frontline services in London – including people delivering our mail – need to be protected from coronavirus rapidly. Prioritising vaccination for the people keeping the city running is a sensible step once the most vulnerable groups have been reached.”

The Royal Mail has ordered staff to focus on parcels rather than letters due to the shortages. The process has also been slowed down due to social-distancing measures at sorting offices.

The Tribune has been contacted by several residents who said they have been left waiting for bank cards, bills and hospital appointment notes.

A Royal Mail spokes­person said: “Right from the start of this crisis, we have played a key role keeping the country connected. Like most organisations, we have a number of employees who are self-isolating in line with government guidance.

“This has a direct impact on our staffing ­levels, especially in areas where there are higher ­levels of local outbreaks.

“We are working hard to deliver as normal a service as we can, drawing in extra resources and offering additional overtime where possible.”

[Woody Guthrie]

POSTAL workers say they should be considered for priority Covid-19 vaccines to help keep the service afloat.

I must have been off the day they asked.

[clashcityrocker]

Milly?

[Woody Guthrie]

Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises ministers on vaccine distribution, said it would be “politically, socially and ethically unacceptable” to prioritise younger groups over older ones at greater risk.

“We worked out that if you give 20 people in a care home a dose of vaccine, you’ll save a life,” he said. “If you give 160 people in their 80s a dose of vaccine, you’ll save a life. But once you get down to people in their 60s, you’re up to more than 1,000. If you go down to teachers or policemen, you’re approaching one in 50,000. It’s an extraordinarily inefficient way in the crisis to use vaccines – to start going out to these other lobbying groups who are perceiving themselves to be at enhanced risk of exposure, but who are not actually and demonstrably at enhanced risk of getting sick and dying.

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

.

[deltaforce]

Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises ministers on vaccine distribution, said it would be “politically, socially and ethically unacceptable” to prioritise younger groups over older ones at greater risk.

“We worked out that if you give 20 people in a care home a dose of vaccine, you’ll save a life,” he said. “If you give 160 people in their 80s a dose of vaccine, you’ll save a life. But once you get down to people in their 60s, you’re up to more than 1,000. If you go down to teachers or policemen, you’re approaching one in 50,000. It’s an extraordinarily inefficient way in the crisis to use vaccines – to start going out to these other lobbying groups who are perceiving themselves to be at enhanced risk of exposure, but who are not actually and demonstrably at enhanced risk of getting sick and dying.

Hopefully advisers are looking at the "big picture" when stats like these are given. While for instance the average postie may not be at death risk themselves, they are mixing with colleagues indoors in situations where Covid could be passed between them (especially from those with mild or no symptoms while parcel or letter sorting), before then potentially being in contact with more vulnerable people on delivery such as those aged 60+ (which will be greater for the likes of "day off covers" and "holiday relief" OPGs) and then going home to their own families, perhaps via the local supermarket.

The likes of "keyworker" school kids; teachers; nurses; supermarket staff; police; posties etc. are currently among the biggest potential super-spreaders of society, even if Covid doesn't leave themselves at much risk of dying, but there does appear to increasing attention focused on the concern about the prevelance of "long Covid."

And of course if you are vaccinated, it doesn’t stop you carrying the virus about you, it just stops you from contracting it.

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

And of course if you are vaccinated, it doesn’t stop you carrying the virus about you, it just stops you from contracting it.

I knew there was a reason why I don't normally post in forums in the morning!

Vaccinated people can still catch and pass on Covid, but have less chance of death-threatening consequences for themselves... Deleting my earlier post.