“The government are also considering the same mandate for wider NHS staff”.
COVID-19 vaccinations are set to become mandatory for all care home staff in England, according to recent reports.
People working in care homes or starting a new job in a care home will be required to have the corona virus jab with a 16 week period.
The people who refuse to have the mandatory vaccine may not be permitted to work in their current settings and could risk being moved to a different department in their workplace or could risk loosing their role entirely.
The Government – who are expected to fully announce the introduction of these compulsory vaccinations later this week are also considering a wider vaccination programme that will include NHS staff, according to the guardian.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is preparing to launch consultations and debates on the the topic of making both COVID and general flu vaccines a requirement for all health care sector employees in the uk.
A DHSC spokeswoman told the BBC: “Vaccines are our way out of this pandemic and have already saved thousands of lives – with millions of health and care staff vaccinated.
“Our priority is to make sure people in care homes are protected, and we launched the consultation to get views on whether and how the government might take forward a new requirement for adult care home providers, looking after older people, to only deploy staff who have had a COVID-19 vaccination or have an appropriate exemption.”
However, one NHS official has issued a warning via The Guardian that making vaccines compulsory will create “direct confrontation”.
“The government hasn’t thought through the consequences of this,” they added.
“Hospital trusts could end up having to suspend or even dismiss members of staff who continue to refuse to be vaccinated against COVID in defiance of a policy requiring them to get jabbed.”
Over 41 million people in the UK have received their first COVID jab to date, whilst a further 30 million have received a second dose.
A more infectious variant being named ‘delta’ has however caused cases in England to sharply rise again, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to delay the lifting of lockdown by four weeks to allow more people to be vaccinated in what’s being called, “the race against the virus”.
The PM stated that the decision was made so that the NHS had more time to “give crucial jabs into the arms [of those] who need them.”
“I think it’s sensible to wait just a little longer,” he then added.
“Now is the time to ease off the accelerator. By being cautious now we have the chance to save lives.”
