Frontline National Health Service staff in England will now have to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the United Kingdom’s health secretary Sajid Javid has announced.
The health secretary told the House of Commons that a vaccination deadline for the 1st of April 2022 is expected to be set, giving unvaccinated staff time to get both doses.
Vaccinations in the United Kingdom
As of current, around 45.9 million people in the UK have been fully vaccinated, accounting for approximately 68% of the total population.
However, as of current nearly 103,000 NHS workers in England currently remain unvaccinated.
The government’s decision follows a consultation process that considered whether both the Covid and flu jabs should be compulsory for frontline NHS staff and care home workers.
While the Covid vaccine will be mandatory for frontline staff, Mr Javid has said that staff can be made exempt from the Covid vaccine requirement for medical reasons or for those who do not have face-to-face contact with patients in their work. He also added that the flu vaccine would not be made mandatory.
In a statement addressed to MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Javid said responses to the consultation showed there was support for compulsory vaccination for NHS staff but also noted concerns that some people might choose to leave their jobs over the policy.
Having considered the responses from a survey of nearly 34 000 as well as advice from official NHS leaders, the health secretary concluded that all those working in the NHS and social care sector would have to be vaccinated.
“We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS and, of course, protect the NHS itself.” Mr. Javid went on to say
However, he went on to highlight that no unvaccinated worker should be “scapegoated or shamed” and should instead be supported to make “a positive choice”.
The four nations of the United Kingdom decide their own pandemic response guidelines. So far, both Wales and Scotland have not put forward any proposals on making Covid jabs compulsory, while Northern Ireland will hold a public deliberation.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents England’s NHS trusts, said: “Trust leaders understand the rationale to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for frontline staff to protect colleagues, patients and visitors from coronavirus.”
“Our survey of trust leaders found there are inherent risks the government must manage in introducing mandatory vaccinations and the health and care secretary acknowledged these tensions in his statement today.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth urged Mr Javid to proceed with care, pointing out the more than 90,000 job vacancies across the NHS.
Mr Ashworth went on to argue that the stress over a mandatory jab requirement may lead to thousands of NHS staff leaving their positions and resulting in a critically understaffed health care system.
Sources
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/health-secretary-statement-on-vaccines-as-a-condition-of-deployment
https://nhsproviders.org/news-blogs/news/nhs-providers-response-to-mandatory-vaccinations-for-nhs-staff