Dame Joan Bakewell 

• I AM astonished by Dame Joan Bakewell’s plan to force the government to give two vaccinations to the early recipients of one, (‘Is delay to second dose of virus vaccine lawful?,’ asks Dame Joan Bakewell, January 14).

Unlike Dame Joan I have only had one jab and been told the next one won’t be for 12 weeks. I am, meantime, more protected from infection than I was three weeks ago and will continue to take the precautions that I have been following for the last year.

I have a grandson who suffers from severe bronchiectasis and, frankly, if postponing my second jab brings forward the first for him and others equally vulnerable by even an hour it will have been worth it 10 times over.

I believe that the highly clinically vulnerable should, anyway, have been in the first group to be offered the vaccines. Am I really more important than a vulnerable parent?

But throughout this crisis the real danger to me continues to be the behaviour of others. Today I observed the people I passed on my way to the shops: out of 31, 24 were not wearing masks and made no attempt to pass me at a safe distance.

It was I who stepped into the road to avoid being within two or three feet of them on the pavement. Of course, I would like a second vaccination but am prepared to wait if it makes life a mite safer for others.

ELIZABETH MONCK,
NW5