Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said that almost 64,000 people died due to smoking in 2019 and that the Government is determined to help people kick the habit and make England smoke-free by 2030.
The new Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) rules will allow vaping firms to submit their products to the regulator for approval like other medicines and vaccines.
Once approved, the e-cigarettes can be prescribed to patients on a case-by-case basis.
Javid said that this move to prescribe e-cigarettes on the NHS “has the potential to tackle the stark disparities in smoking rates across the country.”
Here's everything you need to know about e-cigarettes as an alternative to tobacco.
Do e-cigarettes help you quit smoking?
With 27.2% of smokers using vaping products compared with 18.2% using other products like patches and gum, e-cigarettes are being described by the government as “highly effective” to help people quit smoking.
Deborah Arnott, of the campaign group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), has said that smoking is likely to have caused more premature deaths in the UK in the past year than the Covid pandemic.
She added that the country needs "new tools in the toolbox, such as medicinally licensed e-cigarettes.”
Are e-cigarettes bad for you?
E-cigarettes contain nicotine and are not fully risk-free.
The NHS says, “The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke.”
But experts believe that its still less harmful than smoking tobacco which remains one of Britain’s biggest killers with almost 6.1 million people in the country being smokers.
However, in 2019 Professor Thomas Munzel from the University Medical Centre in Mainz, Germany said that there’s very little evidence to support claims that e-cigarettes are a healthy alternative to tobacco and that the vapes can be just as addictive and dangerous.
Public health experts have also raised concerns about young people who have never smoked before becoming addicted to vaping. In response, the government has strongly advised non-smokers and children against trying vaping.
