Sajid Javid’s Vaping Revolution?

In February 2022, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced very exciting plans for the “levelling up” of public health in England. All the government press releases said that a “vaping revolution” could be part of the process. What exactly does that mean, and can he really achieve it? Well maybe. Actually, some of it might have already happened without his input.

The Government has touted levelling-up as a policy for some time. Alas, the reality seems that we are going in the opposite direction. The last 20 years has seen the life expectancy gap between men in Blackpool and Westminster widen from 5.3 years to 10.7 years . You can guess which of those enjoy longer life expectancy. A big part of that difference is the chance that each of those men is a smoker. Life expectancy is just one of the measures used to demonstrate the social differences between areas in the UK. Quality of life is just as important for most of us.

Health Secretary Javid quite rightly points out the “moral outrage” that we should see in these regional differences. Vaping is so much cheaper than smoking that it can go a long way towards closing the gap.

Vaping on prescription

Javid focuses a lot on the notion that a prescription e-cigarette might be the key to levelling up. The problem with his proposed vaping revolution is that no one has yet made a vaping device that can be authorised for sale as a medicine. Even if they had, there would be a lot more work to do before doctors could start prescribing them. In the meantime, smokers wishing to quit can still get support from local stop smoking services. Many quit services now offer e-cigarettes as part of their offer, and that number is growing.[ii]

Combining vaping with help from stop smoking support definitely makes quitting easier. Research has proved this over the last 4 years time and again. In the first major study over 60% of smokers successfully packed in traditional cigarettes in 4 weeks.[iii] Some local stop smoking services provide quitters with a device and liquid to get them started. More are bound to join them. Vaping works better than NRT in helping people quit, and there is scientific evidence to prove it.[iv]

Quitting smoking through vaping

Totally Wicked has been working with many local authorities and quit services to provide quitters with devices and e-liquids. Our Skope S and Switz eliquid range are the most popular for this purpose. We will keep doing our bit so every smoker can change their lives for the better.

Javid has selected Javed Khan OBE, former CEO of the charity Barnardos to head up his review of tobacco control. Khan will assess plans to make the UK smoke free by 2030. He might find the vaping revolution cannot take quite the shape that Javid intends if it is to be effective so quickly. E-cigarettes and e-liquids on prescription are just too far out of reach just now.

That does not mean that vaping has not been helpful so far though. Whether e-cigarettes become available on prescription or not, we are confident that vaping will continue to help smokers improve their quality of life. Many more will yet go on to kick a habit that most vapers have already overcome.