One million smokers in the UK will be given a vape starter kit and support as part of a government scheme to encourage them to give up tobacco.
The Swap To Stop scheme will be announced today by UK Health Minister Neil O’Brien, which will reportedly offer pregnant women who smoke up to £400 in shopping vouchers and provide one in five smokers with a free vaping kit.
Officials say that 9% of women continue to smoke during pregnancy in England and hope a monetary incentive, as well as behavioural support, will get all of them to quit by the end of the year. It comes as the government aims to crack down on the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s. A survey by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) found that vaping among 11- to 17-year-olds had increased from 3.3% in 2021 to 7% last year.
Campaigners have welcomed the new measures as “welcome steps in the right direction” but said they are “nowhere near sufficient”.
Speaking on the scheme, O’Brien said: “Up to two out of three lifelong smokers will die from smoking. Cigarettes are the only product on sale which will kill you if used correctly. We will offer a million smokers new help to quit. We will be funding a new national Swap To Stop scheme—the first of its kind in the world. We will work with councils and others to offer a million smokers across England a free vaping starter kit.”
The free vaping starter kit will come with a range of products, strengths and flavours in order to allow smokers to find the best product for them. The scheme will come from the Department of Health and Social Care’s budget and will cost roughly £45 million over two years.
