DR BRUCE McLeod (Craven Herald letters, February 4) is quite right to criticise our Government when it gets matters wrong.

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, and we can all see that such as the ‘Eating out to Help Out’ idea caused a resurgence of the virus.

Certainly it may have been done with good intent, and I think that no one – with the possible exception of Dr McLeod – could deny that juggling the economy and jobs against the virus cannot have been easy.

However the Government did get one thing right – excellently and resoundingly right, and that was in the matter of vaccines.

When the UK decided to opt out of the EU vaccination scheme, to bleats of ‘We’re all doomed’ from such as the Guardian, it’s hard to underestimate how very good that was for the UK.

Yes, the UK has lost many lives, not as many (pro rata) as some in the EU such as Belgium and Slovenia, but the UK virus and death rates are decreasing, thanks to vaccines.

UK figures for February 5 are that whilst 16.5 per cent of UK had received vaccinations, only 1.6 per cent of the Netherlands had received theirs. Doubly galling for such as the Netherlands, as they had tried to purchase vaccines, only to be instructed by the EU to stop that, negotiate together, and share equally.

That took three months, and interestingly after being ‘in it all together’, Germany managed to obtain 30 million doses just for Germany, hence whilst the Netherlands struggle with 1.6 per cent, Germany has over doubled that to 3.6 per cent - fair shares for all in the EU might not seem that to the Netherlands.

In addition, the UK has developed a world beating vaccine, one which is very cheap, and promised to be supplied at cost, not for profit, to the rest of the world; it’s easy to transport, and easy to keep in an ordinary refrigerator.

Covax, the world initiative for equitable global access to vaccine, is promising to deliver over 300 million donated doses of vaccine in the first half of this year, with 1.2 million doses of Pfizer, and 336 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZenica.

In addition the UK Government put £240 million into building vaccine manufacturing plants, with a resounding success both for the present and the future, for this will not be the last pandemic we endure.

So yes, Dr McLeod, the UK has made mistakes, and we should acknowledge those, learn from them, and not repeat them.

But the UK has punched well above its weight in the matter of vaccine development, manufacture, supply at no profit, and in helping bring about future massive reductions in worldwide deaths due to this virus.

Whether it be as a Government or individuals, sometimes we get it wrong, and sometimes we get it ‘right’ – it’s because we’re only humans, not Gods - and if condemnation is deserved for failures, then praise must be equally deserved for success.

Alan Perrow

Cowling