THE chairman of Wiltshire Police Federation has called for officers to be prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccine as a matter of urgency.

Mark Andrews says as well as the obvious health concerns for officers and their loved ones, the escalating pandemic is causing operational policing issues for the area as officers have to take time off sick.

He has also backed calls from Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard to have officers prioritised in a list of those vaccinated.

Mr Andrews said: “The Federation have been calling for our officers to be vaccinated as a priority and support Chief Constable Pritchard’s stance on this.

“We are seeing more instances of officers testing positive for Covid after interaction with the public and we are also seeing an increase in the amount of people we come into physical contact with who are confirmed positive.

“When our officers test positive we need to isolate like anyone else which has an impact on our ability to effectively police and puts additional pressure on those remaining.”

Mr Andrews added: “Listening to the media I often here calls for vaccination of teachers and other key workers but our police officers seem to be forgotten when they list those who are deemed important to keep the country running. This is unacceptable.

“The last thing we as police officers want to do is put vulnerable people at risk by inadvertently spreading the virus. We wear masks and other PPE to protect where we can, but this vaccine would help us police with confidence, ensuring we protect the community but also our loved ones whom we go home to every day.”

Chief Constable Pritchard, speaking to the Journal's sister paper Swindon Advertiser, said: “I think there’s a real case for saying that all frontline workers should be prioritised.

“My officers and staff throughout this pandemic have put themselves in harm’s way.

"They do that every single day.

“In those early stages putting themselves into situations where the qualities and the concerns of the pandemic were completely unknown.

“They’ve had to police through this. They’ve been continuing to deliver front-line services and attending scenes, attending domestic abuse incidents and so on.

“In those early stages they were doing that almost blind as to whether or not there was a risk.”

“We know so much more about the virus now, but it still remains live, it still remains invisible, it’s still a huge concern to all frontline workers,” Mr Pritchard said.