Due to the difficult winter ahead, it is best to delay making Covid vaccinations compulsory for NHS staff until spring, a chief of health said today.
Ministers are currently completing a consultation to determine whether doctors or nurses should be forced for their jabs. Staff members who refuse could face the sack.
Last week, Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, admitted that he was ‘leaning toward’ the no jabs, no job’ policy in England. 100,000 employees have yet to get their first dose.
Chris Hopson is the chief executive of NHS Providers. He said today that any deadline should not be set until April next years so that there are enough workers to handle winter.
Unions fear hospitals could be left even shorter staffed between January and March — their most difficult time of year — if the plans are brought in.
Hopson said that NHS staff should be given the same five-month period before jabs are made compulsory as those in the social care sector.
Ministers declared in June that care home workers needed to be fully vaccinated to avoid losing their jobs. But they gave them until November 11th for jabs.
Louise Akester, a Hull-based care worker, said today that she was ready to lose her job because she wasn’t prepared to receive the vaccine.
Mister Hopson stated that some Cornwall homes are already being forced to recruit nurses from nearby hospitals due to staff shortages.
Figures show that around 100,000 NHS workers have yet to receive at least one dose. The graph above shows the percentage of people who have received their first dose (blue line), and the percentage who have received both doses (orange lines).
From next week, social workers will have to receive covid vaccines. Louise Akester (36-year-old care home worker from Hull) is shown above. She has stated that she is willing to lose her job in order to get the vaccine.
Ms Akester has been working in the care sector for 14+ years. She said she was sad to have the need to say goodbye the residents of the home she works in.
Ministers are yet not to announce plans for making Covid vaccines compulsory to all NHS workers, unlike social care.
However, it is becoming increasingly likely that they may become a requirement for employment. The consultation also considered making flu jabs mandatory.
Mr Hopson did not reject the ‘no jabs, no jobs’ policy. This would have seen bosses trying to redeploy employees before firing them.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We know — and the chief medical officer has said this really clearly — that we’ve got a very, very difficult winter coming up and we know the NHS is going to be absolutely at full stretch.
“So, it makes sense that the deadline be set once the winter period has ended.
‘We know that January, February, often early March is very busy, so that’s why we’re saying today that we think an April 2022 deadline is a sensible time.’
Mr Hopson said that if we lose large numbers of staff during winter, then our ability as a provider of care will also be compromised.
Official figures show that there were nearly 100,000 vacancies in England’s NHS between April-June last year.
Also, care homes had almost 112,000 unemployed workers. Managers warned that the no jab, not job’ policy would only worsen the crisis.
Referring to the issue in social services, he said: “In June the Government announced it would be moving towards mandating vaccination for staff. The deadline they stated was mid-November. There was therefore a five-month lead-up.
‘And what we’re saying in the NHS is we need that length of run-up as well.
“You only have to look at what social service providers are reporting on and say, “Look, we’re really, really struggling at this moment in terms staff leaving just when they are needed.”
“And indeed, some NHS staff are now being forced to help out. For example, in Cornwall, they are having to go to the social care sector and ensure that we can discharge patients from hospital.
The vast majority of NHS workers in England — 90 per cent or 1.3million people — have already got both doses of the Covid vaccine figures show.
But there are 105,000 — including nurses and administrative staff — who are still yet to turn up for their first dose.
Despite mounting pressure to get vaccinated more than 10,000 workers received their first shots in the week that ended October 24, according to the latest available data.
Mr Hopson said that the Covid vaccine is less likely to be given to people from African communities and women than it is for NHS staff.
He stated that trust leaders had’supportive and encouraging’ conversations with vaccine-refractory staff to encourage take-up.
He said: ‘One of the things we’re saying today is please can we ensure that we don’t have to quick a deadline so that we can carry on that process and, crucially, we can get through winter.’
In the care sector — where two vaccines will be part of working in homes from next week — some 40,000 employees are yet to get jabbed.
Care home worker Ms Akester has said she is aware her shift on Saturday — before the vaccination deadline comes in — may be her last at Alderson House in Hull.
Ms Akester, a 14-year veteran of the sector, said she wouldn’t get the vaccine until she knew more about the possible long-term side effect.
She claimed that it was unfair that employees would need to get both doses when it is not necessary for visitors or residents.
Ms Akester, who has worked at the home for three years, told HullLive: ‘When I have to leave that building at the end of my final shift knowing that I can no longer return as an employee, all because apparently now I’m not good enough to protect them due to refusing the vaccines.
‘This choice should always be my basic human rights. I don’t deserve to be punished just for saying “no”.
She added: ‘I genuinely love my job with all my heart, I only earn minimum wage so believe me it isn’t the money keeping me there.
“But November 5, will be one the most difficult days of my entire life when I have my last goodbyes to all my wonderful residents.
Ms Akester has been testing positive for Covid three days a week. This is required for all staff in care homes that are not currently vaccinated.
Last week, Mr Javid stated that he was considering making double-jabbing mandatory for all NHS workers.
He told Sky News: ‘There’s around 100,000 that are not (vaccinated in the NHS) at this point but what we saw with the care sector is that when we announced the policy… then we saw many more people come forward and do the right thing and get vaccinated.’
On October 22, a consultation about whether Covid or flu vaccines should become compulsory for NHS workers was concluded.
Sources at the Department of Health said that results would be published in “due course”.