A Vape Revolution
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has done the tour of newsrooms promising a vape “revolution” to increase the life expectancy of the poorest in England
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by Dave Cross
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With a target date of “Spring”, Sajid Javid says the white paper will promise to tackle the health inequalities in society, something that he claims causes “moral outrage” in the country as the wealthiest live an average of ten years more than the poorer.
His comments build on the recent announcement by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency that it is streamlining the application process by which companies can achieve authorisation for their vape products to be prescribed by GPs like traditional nicotine replacement products.
Accompanying the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency statement, Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This country continues to be a global leader on healthcare, whether it’s our COVID-19 vaccine roll-out saving lives or our innovative public health measures reducing people’s risk of serious illness.
“Opening the door to a licensed e-cigarette prescribed on the NHS has the potential to tackle the stark disparities in smoking rates across the country, helping people stop smoking wherever they live and whatever their background.
“Almost 64,000 people died from smoking in England in 2019 and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) is supporting efforts to level up public health and ensure communities across the country have equal health outcomes.
“Reducing health disparities – including in smoking rates – and keeping people in better health for longer is good for the individual, families, society, the economy and NHS. To achieve this overall ambition, OHID will work collaboratively at national, regional and local levels as well as with the NHS, academia, the third sector, scientists, researchers and industry.
“The government will soon publish a new Tobacco Control Plan which will set out the roadmap for achieving a smoke-free England by 2030.”
A spokesperson told Sun journalists that, “Mr Javid has made it clear he wants to level up health — tackling smoking is part of that. The MHRA opened the door to prescribing vapes.”
Responding to Javid’s statement, The Sun coverage stated: “smokers would be prescribed e-cigarettes on the NHS in months” and “the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the gadgets [e-cigarettes] late last year”. Neither of these are true. Currently, no applications have been received by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and any product is still a way off being available.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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