A new plea has been made for frontline cops in South Yorkshire to be issued with the Covid vaccine.

Steve Kent, chairman of the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said cops are regularly called upon to deal with medical emergencies when NHS colleagues are overstretched.

NHS workers have already received or are in the process of receiving the coronavirus vaccine, with police officers also wanting to be prioritised as the jabs are rolled out.

Mr Kent said: “It is absolutely essential that frontline police officers are given the same vaccine priority as NHS workers.

Steve Kent, chairman of the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation

placeholder image — Steve Kent, chairman of the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation

“We are at the frontline of this pandemic as well. Also any frontline officer will tell you that when our NHS colleagues are under strain, as they frequently are, that they are often expected to attend NHS emergency calls as well.

“This can not be yet another example of police officers being ignored.”

He added: “All police officers should be vaccinated, but it makes sense to prioritise those officers and staff who are public facing/ frontline and I would include custody within that.

“We've got to make sure our officers are protected and we've got the resilience within our force to make sure we don't lose our officers to any sort of variant or any increased risk of getting infected.”

Expressing their support for priority for police officers in Facebook posts, Craig Jenkinson said: “Unfortunately protecting the protectors seems to be something that fails to happen on so many fronts.”

Sarah Newbound added: “Most NHS can prepare with PPE, and I’m not decrying the sterling job they have and continue to do. The police can be turned on, spat on, deliberately coughed on when dealing with some people when they least expect it and PPE doesn’t stay on when grappling with folk.”

Bernadette Major added: “Police officers don't get to kit themselves out with full PPE before attending any job.

“They are potentially exposed to covid all day every day. Then going home to their families. I assumed this was already happening. It's outrageous our police officers are not top of the list.”