Vaping kits will be provided to 1 million smokers across England, with a ‘swap to stop’ scheme to help towards a smoke-free country by 2030.
Providing a direct response in light of the news is leading vaping expert and co-CEO at Vaping.com (https://vaping.com/) Neil Mclaren, who cites that “the country can’t afford for it to be yet another fruitless media campaign with no direct impact”.
Please see Neil Mclaren’s full statement on the ‘swap to stop scheme’:
“It’s great to see that the government is finally taking action. But, is it destined to become another fruitless media campaign with very little substance? Details about how the scheme will work still haven’t been announced, as well as the reason why only 1 in 5 smokers – as little as 20%, will gain access. It’s difficult to understand why this figure is so low when the NHS states that nicotine vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking. So, why has it taken this long and why isn’t every smoker going to receive help? Questions must be raised.
We have calculated that less than 6% of the current cost of smoking to NHS England will be spent on this scheme – currently an estimated cost of £2.6 billion per year with 6.6 million smokers; £394 per smoker per year of help. The scheme will cost £45 million over two years which equates to just £22.50 per smoker out of the 1 million smokers who will be eligible for access per year. For context, this is the cost of just one vape kit. This isn’t good enough and considering it won’t last long enough to assist smokers in a smooth transition, smokers need ongoing support to help them quit for good.”
I know we have been in contact previously with comments supplied by Vaping.com, and I do hope they can be of interest and help. Neil Mclaren is available for added comments as and when you need, so please do feel free to get in touch.
Credit to Vaping.com (https://vaping.com/) for their time and effort to provide reactive expertise in light of the news in the above post.
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