ovid vaccines could be made mandatory for frontline health and care staff, as Sajid Javid vowed to protect” patients vulnerable to the virus in hospitals.
The Government has launched a six-week consultation into whether mandatory jabs should be expanded beyond care homes. All staff in registered care homes in England must be vaccinated against Covid-19 from November 11, unless medically exempt.
A government source told The Times that Boris Johnson personally supports the plan for mandatory jabs for frontline health and social care staff, stressing: “It’s only right that those who are caring for people who are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus should be vaccinated. This will save lives.”
The Health Secretary urged all health and social care staff to be vaccinated, regardless of the outcome of the consultation.
“Whatever happens, I urge the small minority of NHS staff who have not yet been jabbed to consider getting vaccinated – for their own health as well as those around them.”
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The care minister suggested those in health and care sector who would not get double jabbed could be moved to back-office roles.
Speaking on Times Radio, Helen Whately recognised there were people who would be medically exempt from the vaccine, but for others she said: “You can look at whether there are alternative ways somebody could be deployed, for instance, in a role that doesn’t involve frontline work, or doesn’t involve being physically in the same setting as the patient – whether it’s, for instance, working on 111, something like that.
“So we could look at alternative roles for individuals, these are exactly the sorts of things that we can investigate.”
Frontline doctors and nurses could be forced to take Covid jab
Covid vaccines could be made mandatory for frontline health and care staff, as Sajid Javid vowed to protect” patients vulnerable to the virus in hospitals.
The Government has launched a six-week consultation into whether mandatory jabs should be expanded beyond care homes. All staff in registered care homes in England must be vaccinated against Covid-19 from November 11, unless medically exempt.
A government source told The Times that Boris Johnson personally supports the plan for mandatory jabs for frontline health and social care staff, stressing: “It’s only right that those who are caring for people who are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus should be vaccinated. This will save lives.”
The Health Secretary urged all health and social care staff to be vaccinated, regardless of the outcome of the consultation.
“Whatever happens, I urge the small minority of NHS staff who have not yet been jabbed to consider getting vaccinated – for their own health as well as those around them.”
A nurse prepares the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine
/ PA Archive
