The pandemic has been marked by many horrors but few have been so harrowing as its toll within care homes. Government failings in protecting vulnerable residents were legion, and will need to be painstakingly dissected in the forthcoming public inquiry. These cannot be undone but residents can be better shielded. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has science and public opinion on his side in requiring that care home staff, working with the most frail, be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus from tomorrow.
The World Health Organisation estimated in April last year that up to half the Covid-related deaths in Europe had happened in care facilities. In hindsight, care homes ought to have been made a priority for the delivery of essential testing kit, for residents
