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Savvi Travel to donate cost of a vaccine for every booking

Independent agency Savvi Travel has pledged to support a campaign to help less developed countries to vaccinate people against Covid-19.

Dave Batley (pictured with his wife Kay), chief executive of the four-branch agency, was prompted to make his pledge after hearing about the Give A Vaccine initiative on Jeremy Vine’s Radio Two show last week.

He posted his pledge on his Twitter and Facebook channels: “We all live very privileged lives & travel on wonderful holidays. With that in mind Savvi Travel will be donating one #COVIDVaccination for every person on the booking to less privileged countries. We need the whole world to be cured of this horrible virus. #donateavaccinate.”

Batley told Travel Weekly: “It is about giving back – we have got to do this.

“We need to fly to other countries and so we need to do our bit.”

He said the agency will make a donation of £15 per person, taken from the commission it earns on each booking.

He said there is plenty of “pent-up demand” and enquiries but he is finding it is harder to secure bookings in the current climate – although one client aged 92 has booked a cruise for 2022.

Savvi Travel has branches in Oakham, Rutland; Olney, Buckinghamshire; Ampthill, Bedfordshire; and Hitchin in Hertfordshire.

Give A Vaccine has been established by semi-retired architect Stephen Lampard and his wife Janice, who live near Portsmouth.

Lampard highlighted how about 80% of the world’s vaccines for Covid have been bought already by wealthy nations, who have about 20% of the world’s population.

His initiative aims to build partnerships with organisations such as the Vaccine Alliance that can support his programme, and he has an initial target of £100,000 on his GoFundMe page.

The £15 figure is an estimate of the average cost of a vaccine.

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