Plans to make Covid vaccinations compulsory for NHS and social care staff have been scrapped in a major government U-turn.
Health secretary Sajid Javid today confirmed he would no longer go ahead with the policy, due to come into force from 1 April, following warnings it would lead to a mass staff exodus.
The U-turn comes just days after Javid reaffirmed his commitment to the policy, arguing that it was the “professional duty” of all frontline staff in England to get vaccinated.
However, the health secretary had been under pressure to ditch the mandate following concerns that up to 80,000 unvaccinated workers could leave the industry rather than receive the jab.
In a statement to MPs, Javid said it was the “right policy at the time”. But Omicron is “intrinsically less severe” so it is “no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment”.
He said: “Omicron’s increased infectiousness means that at the peak of the recent winter spike, one in 15 people had a Covid-19 infection, according to the ONS (Office for National Statistics). Around 24% of England’s population has had at least one positive Covid-19 test, and as as of today in England, 84% of people over 12 have had a primary course of Covid-19 vaccines and 64% have been boosted, including over 90% of over-50s.
“The second factor is that the dominant variant, Omicron, is intrinsically less severe. When taken together with the first factor that we now have greater population protection, the evidence shows that the risk of presentation to emergency care or hospital admission with Omicron is approximately half of that for Delta. Given these dramatic changes, it is not only right but responsible to revisit the balance of risks and opportunities that guided our original decision last year.
“While vaccination remains our very best line of defence against Covid-19, I believe that it is no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment through statute.
“So I’m announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending vaccination as a condition of deployment in health and all social care sectors. Subject to the responses and the will of this House, the government will revert the regulations.”
The government made it mandatory for frontline NHS workers to be fully vaccinated by 1 April back in the Autumn, meaning workers would have to get their first jab by this Thursday, February 3.
Up to 40,000 care workers are thought to have left their jobs since the policy was introduced for the care sector last November.
Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group, welcomed the reversal but said the policy had already caused “upset and heartache for those who lost their jobs”.
“We need to know now if they can have their jobs back,” he said.
And he said there was a “huge gap” between how NHS care and social care are treated.
“We were robbed of thousands of staff back in November when the policy came in for care and nursing home workers and nobody lifted a finger,” he said.
“But when a similar threat is levelled toward NHS staff, the policy is reversed.
“It is another in a long history of slaps in the face for social care, which, given the services it provides, should have the same respect as NHS care.”
Approximately 77,000 workers — 5% of the NHS workforce — in the health service are currently unvaccinated, Javid said earlier this month.