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Government confirms Covid jabs will be compulsory for all frontline NHS staff in England
The Health Secretary has announced new vaccine regulations for all NHS frontline staff across England
Frontline NHS staff in England will have to be fully vaccinated against Covid in order to keep their jobs, the health secretary has confirmed today.
Sajid Javid told the House of Commons that all staff have until April 1st 2022 to get both doses of the vaccine, while care home workers have until Thursday this week.
In a statement to MPs, Javid said, as per the BBC: “Having considered the consultation responses, the advice of my officials and NHS leaders including the chief executive of the NHS, I have concluded that all those working in the NHS and social care will 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.”
He added that no unvaccinated worker should be ‘scapegoated’, said Mr Javid, and should instead be supported to make ‘a positive choice’.
Chris Hopson, the Chief Executive of NHS Providers pointed out that between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England are currently unvaccinated, and said that while a small majority of hospital bosses back jabs becoming compulsory, more than 90% of them fear it could worsen the understaffing that is already endemic across the service.
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He said: “The potential loss of those staff who don’t take the vaccine when the service is already under huge pressure and carrying 93,000 vacancies. The government must recognise the risk of losing unvaccinated frontline staff and support efforts to maximise voluntary take-up first.”
In response to the backlash, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said last week: “We have taken action to introduce vaccination requirements in care homes and we recently consulted on extending this further across health and other social care services.
“We will set out our response in due course.”