Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, has announced a U-turn on the NHS vaccine mandate policy, which will prevent thousands of health workers from leaving because they refused to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a statement to MPs on Monday evening: “While vaccination remains our very best line of defence, I believe it is no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment by statute.”
The health secretary acknowledged the decision, abandoning a programme that he had championed despite mounting concerns that it would jeopardise patient safety by causing the departure of important people from an already understaffed health care system.
The announcement came just three days before the February 3 deadline for unvaccinated NHS personnel who have direct contact with patients to receive their first dosage or face dismissal.
On Monday, there were 92,368 positive cases and 51 deaths reported. The number of instances in the rolling seven-day period was down 5%.
Javid also intends to make vaccination no longer a requirement for working in care homes, a decision that has already resulted in the layoff of 40,000 people in the sector.
NHS England quickly wrote to health service representatives to inform them.
“This change in government policy means we request that employers do not serve notice of termination to employees affected by the vaccination as a condition of deployment regulations.”
If Javid had not caved in, an estimated 60,000 NHS workers would have been fired.
Javid told Parliament that the fact that the Omicron variant of coronavirus is much milder than its predecessor, Delta, and that a large majority of the population have been fully vaccinated, justified the change.
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