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Because it takes determination, diligence, and skill to speak out effectively, to use data and judgment, to avoid the easy resort to polemic or personal attack, and to balance necessary criticism with constructive ideas Because it means saying unpopular things that people in power don’t want to hear With services at full stretch because of the surge in covid-19 cases, health professionals are speaking out 2 The vaccine rollout is faltering and patchy,3 despite governments having had months to prepare 4 Hopes of global vaccine equity look slim,567 and more needs to be done to reach ethnic minority communities 8 Retired doctors wishing to volunteer as vaccinators have been mired in unnecessary bureaucracy 9 A decision in the UK to extend the gap between vaccine doses has led to confusion and accusations that the government and its advisers have abandoned science 1011 We have tried to answer the most pressing questions raised by this unexpected change 12 The implications for public trust and vaccine uptake remain to be seen 13 But let us at least have the data behind the decision,14 and indeed the data from all the vaccine trials 15 On a positive note, because junior doctors spoke out, the UK regulator has responded to concerns about women who are breastfeeding being advised against having the vaccine16;and because patients spoke out, there is progress—however slow—towards a register of doctors’ financial interests 17 Not everyone can or will want to speak out 16 Hare H Womersley K Why were breastfeeding women in the UK denied the covid-19 vaccine? BMJ 2021;372: n4 10 1136/bmj n4 17 Dyer C Where the mesh inquiry leaves us regarding a register of doctors’ interests
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