It has been reported this morning that the Government is set to make a U-turn on its mandatory vaccine mandate for frontline NHS workers in England.
Under the current plan, all frontline NHS and private sector healthcare workers are required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by 1 April 2022, which means that an individual will need to have had their first dose by Thursday (3 February). Only those who are medically exempt are not required to be vaccinated, as is the case for staff members who do not have face-to-face contact with patients. If a person has not been fully vaccinated by the April deadline, they will have to be redeployed to a different role or dismissed.
However, in recent weeks, Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, has faced calls for the requirement to be scrapped due to fears that it could lead to a shortage of 80,000 workers. The Royal College of Midwives warned the requirement could have a “catastrophic impact” on maternity services across England, whilst the Royal College of GPs and Royal College of Nursing has said that the deadline to be vaccinated should be delayed. Those working in the NHS, who oppose the vaccine mandate, have also staged protests in a number of UK cities, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds.
Last week, Mr Javid said the requirement was being kept under review but that it was the “duty” of NHS workers to be vaccinated. Although he also admitted that when the requirement was first announced, the dominant variant was the more serious Delta, which is no longer the case. Since then, the more contagious, yet slightly milder variant, Omicron has become the dominant variant, which has led to an increase in increased infections among vaccinated people.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, informed the BBC that the “fundamental facts” had altered due to the emergence of the Omicron variant and its lesser severity to the Delta variant, so the Government would need to take this into account.
Social care vaccine mandate
Should the Government go ahead with its U-turn, it will most likely lead to calls to remove the same mandate for frontline social care staff. According to the National Care Association, the sector has lost roughly 40,000 workers since the vaccine requirement came into force in November.
National Care Association Chair, Nadra Ahmed, said:
“The people who we’ve lost, we hope they’ll think about coming back and we will do everything we can to try and encourage them to come back, but they will have found other roles and they may be happier in their other roles now and not want to move again.”
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Laura Kearsley is a Partner in our expert Employment Law team.
For further information on the subjects discussed in this article or for any other employment law-related assistance, please contact Laura or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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