Hello and welcome to the March edition of the Journal of Prescribing Practice. I'm sure by now you are as tired of the news cycle being filled with COVID-19 updates as I am of relaying some of them to you here in this editorial. However, this month, there was a difference here in the UK: after much waiting, the British Government has provided a roadmap to the easing and eventual lifting of restrictions (gov.uk, 2021).
While vaccinations are still very much ongoing, there has been significant progress made. More than 20 million in the UK have now received their first jab, with the next age group (40-49) now set to receive their vaccine (BBC News, 2021a; 2021b). On a personal note, I am delighted that several of my family members have now received their vaccine. My stepdad has cystic fibrosis, and so received his significantly earlier, which was of course a great relief, and now my mum and grandparents have received theirs. Sometimes it is hard to quantify the progress being made in the wider world, but seeing these small victories within your family really brings home the significant work and progress we have made since the beginning of the pandemic, despite our many setbacks. It has been humbling and heartwarming to hear many stories coming out of vaccination centres of the care and good practice you are providing, despite the relentless workload in front of you.
As Deborah mentioned in the journal's previous editorial, we are all currently keeping a watchful eye on current strains of the coronavirus. Unfortunately, over the weekend, a new Brazilian variant case was discovered in England. Health officials are currently still trying to trace the one of the six cases with the concerning variant. The labour party has put the incident down to a lack of a ‘comprehensive’ border system (BBC News, 2021c). Concerns have also been expressed that the current vaccines may not be as effective against this new variant. The UK vaccines deployment minster, Nadim Zahawi, is currently appealing for help to trace the person with the Brazilian variant (The Guardian, 2021).
Here at the journal, we are still working hard to bring you all the latest prescribing research and news. In terms of practicing during the pandemic, this month our Research Roundup covers prescribing issues during the pandemic (Robertson, 2021) and we have a clinical focus piece on maintaining good end-of-life care in primary care during the pandemic (Armstrong et al, 2021).
As always, please do get in touch and share your stories. I hope you enjoy this edition of the journal.