Official figures show that five percent of NHS staff in England are still unvaccinated against Covid. These are the trusts that have been most behind in the rollout.
This is despite the fact that the Government has abandoned plans to make two jabs mandatory for healthcare workers this winter. The controversial rule is not expected to be in place until April.
NHS England statistics show that more than 1,000 people at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust still have not received two doses of the vaccine (79.5%).
Barts Health NHS Trust East London currently has 4,000 employees out of 24,000 who have yet to be fully jabbed. IIt is not known how many of the frontline staff were medically-trained and were able to interact with patients.
However, nationally, 89 per cent NHS employees in England have received both doses.
The figures show that more than 92% have received at least one dose. The South West and South East had the highest rates of vaccine use, while London was the least.
Ministers are mulling plans to make it compulsory that all hospital staff be double-jabbed this season to provide extra protection in the face of a difficult time for the NHS. To combat the seasonal threat, they could also make the flu jab mandatory.
However, it seems that they have now resigned after being warned by unions about the potential for a wave of resignations. This is when hospitals will be most vulnerable to Covid and other respiratory diseases such as flu.
Instead, the Government is said to be planning to impose the requirement starting in April.
The ‘no job, no jab’ policy in care homes has done more damage than good. According to figures, some 60,000 employees could be made redundant next week, which could lead to homes being short-staffed. Sources claim that the policy had only a’small’ impact on jab use.
The map above shows the 20 trusts that have the lowest proportion of staff in England. The data is current as of September 30, 2017.
Figures show that 100,000 NHS workers have yet not received 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).
NHS England publishes monthly statistics on how many staff received a first or second dose of the Covid vaccine, as well as the percentage that were jabbed.
The most recent data are for September 30th, with the next batch of data not due until next week.
Staff from the NHS were given priority in the vaccine rollout and have been able get their first dose since December 2013.
Rounding out top five worst trusts were North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, where 80.2 per cent had got two doses, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, at 80.3 per cent, and Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, at 80.4 per cent.
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust was the most popular area for uptake, with 94.8 percent of staff being double-vaccinated.
It was followed closely by Dorset County Hospital NHS Trust (94.6%), Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (94.5%), West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, and Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (94.4%).
Figures showed that the capital was home to three-quarters of the 20 hospitals and mental health trusts with low Covid vaccine uptake. The Midlands was home to all the other hospitals and mental health trusts.
Experts suggest that vaccine hesitancy may be higher in the capital than in the Midlands due to the presence of larger ethnic minorities, who are less likely get vaccinated.
Although no hospital trust had achieved 100 percent uptake, this was to be expected as some staff may have been exempted from jabs due to medical reasons or because of a reaction to the first dose.
Separate NHS England data, up to October 24, shows that 99% of doctors, nurses, and administrative staff in England have received two doses.
Initial doses were uptakes as high as 92%.
Broken down by region?London had the lowest rate of uptake with 16.5 percent of staff still not receiving two doses. The Midlands had 10.2 percent.
For comparison, just 7.4% of South West employees had yet to get their second jab and 5% still have not received their first.
In the South East, 7.7 percent of employees have yet to receive their second dose, while 5.2 percent have not received their first dose.
It was claimed that NHS workers will not face being fired if they aren’t vaccinated against Covid this season, despite fears of a second wave in the coming months.
Officials have been discussing a ‘no jab and no job’ move for NHS staff for months in an effort to protect the service this winter.
Ministers have already made the controversial move for care home workers. They will need to receive two doses starting November 11.
Department of Health bosses told MailOnline ‘no final decision’ had been made, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid rumoured to still have reservations about the policy — despite publicly admitting that he was ‘leaning towards’ the mandate.
However, a Whitehall insider familiar with the negotiations claimed that the move was a done deal’ and could now be officially announced.
The pressure is mounting on Mr. Javid to implement the scheme. However, one official told the Telegraph that they had done this with the flu jab. We were interested to mandate the flu jab.
‘There was always resistance from the NHS. It is clear that staff will be more productive if there are more people who have been injected with Covid.
“It is a great way to relieve staff pressure.”
Critics of the move called for it be delayed until April. This advice was heeded by Mr Javid, who warned that it could lead to a mass exodus. There are already 100,000 vacancies in the NHS — including more than 4,000 doctors and 18,000 nurses.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard is the chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and has resisted plans to make compulsory jabs for the sector.
She stated that doctors should not be required to administer the Covid vaccine.
“So if the Department of Health is pushing ahead with compulsory vaccines, we would be very careful.”
The map above shows five areas where more care home workers have not received two doses of Covid vaccine.
The graph below shows the percentage of staff in care homes for over-65s that have received their first or second dose of the vaccine. It is clear that there was no sudden surge in vaccinations when mandatory jabs were introduced.
She said, “While we believe that doctors have a professional responsibility to administer the jab, we know that more 92% of them have done so already, it begs the question of why such a heavy-handed approach has been taken.”
Unions have already warned that plans to make Covid jabs mandatory in the social care sector starting next week could ‘cripple’ the sector and force some homes out of business.
Figures show that around 60,000 employees still are not double-vaccinated. Homes in Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Westminster, and Westminster have the lowest jab uptake.
Care sources claim that the deadline should be delayed. They also claim that the mandatory jabs have had a minimal impact on the uptake.
After a consultation, Matt Hancock, former Health Secretary, announced that they would seek the requirement in June. However, health leaders stated that they found it more effective to talk to staff who are skeptical about jabs than making them compulsory.