U-turn on mandatory vaccine requirement?
Government announce consultation on ending mandatory vaccination requirement
In an announcement earlier today in Parliament, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the government’s position on mandatory vaccination for NHS and wider social care workers.
As it stands staff must be fully vaccinated by 1 April, which means the first dose must be administered by this Thursday, 3 February.
But today the government have announced their intention to scrap the requirement. The Secretary said:
“Today I am announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment in health and all social care settings.
Subject to the responses – and the will of this House – the Government will revoke the regulations.”
No doubt those who worked in the care home sector who were sacked because they were not vaccinated will have a sense of grievance, but the government will argue that, at the time, it was the correct thing to do.
However, many staff have left the NHS in anticipation of having to have the vaccine. They will surely be asking for their jobs back.
A link to the Secretary of State’s press release is here.