Britain considers compulsory Covid vaccinations for NHS workers

Controversy as government pushes ahead with mandatory shots for care home staff

Care home staff in England will be required to receive a Covid-19 vaccine to be able to work in the sector. AFP 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has backed plans to make Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory for care home staff.

The government is also considering mandatory vaccinations for the 1.3 million people employed by the National Health Service.

Several UK media outlets reported on Wednesday that ministers were preparing to push ahead on requiring inoculation as a condition of employment for most of the 1.5 million people working in social care in England.

The move comes despite a warning from industry groups that compulsory vaccinations could drive more workers to leave an already understaffed sector.

Under the plans, those working with adults will have 16 weeks to get vaccinated or face losing their jobs.

Official statistics, meanwhile, show 82 per cent of NHS staff are fully vaccinated with two doses. In care homes, the figure is 83.7 per cent.

The government will open a consultation on Thursday on requiring Covid vaccination as a condition of employment for NHS workers.

Ministers are expected to announce the government will change the law to make vaccinations compulsory for care workers, having already completed a consultation in that sector.

Workers who can prove they are medically exempt from Covid vaccination will not be affected by the new measure.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, said he was concerned about the reduced freedom for people to decide what to put in their bodies.

"We're frightened this is going to put more people off coming into social care. I'm also worried about legal action against providers," he told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme.

“It feels like we’re fighting two battles – Covid-19, which is the critical bit, but also the government on many things who don’t seem to understand social care.”

He said “persuasion rather than coercion” was the way to deal with vaccine hesitancy.

“I believe we live in a free country and people have a choice,” he said.

Pat Cullen, acting general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, emphasised the duty NHS staff have to their patients.

“The RCN believes that making the vaccine easily available is the best way to increase uptake … health and care staff must be supported to make an informed choice about taking the vaccine,” she said.

“It is inherent, however, within the Nursing and Midwifery Council code that nursing staff take measures to protect their patients and the public against serious illness as a professional responsibility.”

In another ethical problem for ministers, scientists advising the government will reportedly recommend not giving the Covid-19 vaccine to children.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will advise the government it should wait until scientists obtain more data on the risks of expanding the vaccine drive to under-18s, The Telegraph reported.

That is despite a recommendation from the UK medicines regulator approving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15.

However, scientists on the JCVI are understood to have raised ethical concerns about injecting children because they rarely suffer serious illness from Covid-19.

Prof Callum Semple from the University of Liverpool said the risk of death from Covid-19 in children was one in a million.

“I’m veering on not vaccinating children only because of the ethical issues and the need to get the vaccinations into older people,” he said.

Meanwhile, shortages of Pfizer’s vaccine forced the NHS to slow down Britain’s vaccination programme.

Just 1.2 million first doses were dispensed last week, compared with three million a week earlier.