Make NHS staff get Covid vaccines before winter, says Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock
PA Wire

NHS staff should be made to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before winter, Matt Hancock has said.

The former health secretary, in his first major policy intervention since leaving government, said law should require nurses and doctors to be fully vaccinated within weeks.

He warned ministers against delaying mandatory jabs for the 1.45 million NHS employees who have a “moral duty” to protect their patients.

“It is vital for people who work in caring roles, in social care and the NHS, to get vaccinated. Our NHS staff have been the heartbeat of the nation throughout the pandemic,” he wrote in the Telegraph.

“Having looked at all the evidence, I am convinced we must require vaccination for everyone who works not just in social care but the NHS, and get it in place as fast as possible.”

MPs are expected to announce that the change will be brought in next spring–too late to ease the Covid winter advance.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said last week he was “leaning towards” making the jabs compulsory for staff in England, with around 100,000 NHS workers not fully vaccinated.

That means around nine in 10 NHS workers have had both jabs, but Mr Hancock urged this figure “is not enough.”

Coronavirus - Thu Sep 16, 2021
A health worker receives the booster vaccine at Croydon University Hospital
PA

“For those who work in caring roles, protection of patients is a moral duty,” he continued.

“Given the proven safety and effectiveness of vaccines in saving lives, vaccination is a moral duty, too.”

To those who argue mandatory vaccination is not the British way, the MP said compulsory jabs go back to the 1850s and doctors were made to get protected against hepatitis B.

To those who argue staff would quit, he referred to France where 99 per cent of health workers were jabbed within three months of such policy change and only 0.1 per cent left their posts.

Last week, Mr Javid appeared to take note of warnings from health leaders to postpone the move until spring.

In September, the government launched a consultation seeking opinions on plans for health and care workers in England to be made to have Covid and flu jabs to protect vulnerable people.

Meanwhile the Guardian reported that the Department of Health and Social Care could announce mandatory jabs for frontline NHS workers as soon as Thursday.

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