U-turn on mandatory vaccine won’t bring back ‘skilled’ home care workers who have already quit

Following predictions the NHS would be hit by a loss of over 70,000 frontline staff and a fifth of the home care workforce would quit if the mandate was introduced in April, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced yesterday evening to the House of Commons that the government is removing the legal requirement for all health and social care staff in England to be double jabbed against COVID-19.

The mandate for care home staff to have the jab came into force on 11 November and led to thousands of care workers being sacked.

Mr Javid said: “While vaccination remains our very best line of defence against COVID-19, I believe it is no longer proportionate to require Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment through statute.

“So, Madam Deputy Speaker, today I am announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment in health and all social care settings.

“I have always been clear that our rules must remain proportionate and balanced – and of course, should we see another dramatic change in the virus, it would be responsible to review this policy again.”

Mr Javid explained that the vaccine mandate was put in place because of the severity of the Delta variant, but now with the Omicron variant being the dominant variant and less severe plus the success of the vaccine rollout, he says it is only right the policy was reviewed.

For the full story visit homecare.co.uk