Oldham has become the first local authority in the UK to prioritise the town’s homeless people for the Covid-19 vaccination ahead of the governments priority list.
Around 30 homeless people have so far been given the jab, with more planned.
Oldham councillor Dr Zahid Chauhan, responsible for the towns health and social care, said homeless people should be on the priority list because they are more at risk from the virus.
Dr Chauhan said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It is setting an example for the rest of the country, rest of the world, and saying, ‘Please, please don’t ignore these people.’
“These are the most extremely vulnerable people, the life expectancy is 43, 45, there is a reason why their life expectancy is so low.
“We can protect them, and if they catch Covid they become ill and if they become ill, that’s where you end up in hospitals, if you are lucky, your hospital beds go, your ICU beds go.
“So it makes absolute sense from all directions to actually vaccinate these people and I’m still requesting Government, please consider again, it is my plea to you, these are extremely vulnerable people.
“Please put them in a priority group. That’s the right thing to do. That’s the human thing to do. You don’t give up on people because they don’t have resources and they have not been privileged like me and you.
“You don’t give up, that’s not what we do as British, these are not our British values. We help people, we pull them together. It could be any one of us tomorrow.”
Dr Salim Mohammed, an Oldham GP helping with the vaccinations, added: “It’s hard not to see their reaction and feel very warm inside because they were so happy and you could see it.
“It’s just another day in medicine.”
