Mandatory vaccination of NHS workers in England from spring

The British government is expected to announce later in the day that front-line staff of the NHS National Health Service in England will be required to have been vaccinated against coronavirus by April.

The Government's decision follows a two-month consultation on whether health vaccination against both COVID-19 and influenza should be made mandatory.

According to the BBC, the obligation will not ultimately apply to the flu vaccine, which will simply be strongly recommended.

The government has faced pressure on the one hand for the immediate implementation of the obligation in view of a potentially difficult winter and on the other hand with objections from both unions and public health officials who have warned of the loss of valuable staff at a time when there are about 100,000 NHS jobs.

However, the Minister of Justice Dominic Raab, who came up with the announcements this morning, said that the patients deserve to be "properly protected" against COVID.

What will apply to the NHS in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a decision for the Decentralized Governments. So far there has been no such proposal from them.

It is estimated that between 80,000 and 110,000 NHS workers have not yet been vaccinated, according to Chris Hopson, a spokesman for public health services. This is about 8% of all NHS staff.

Overall, around 92% of NHS front-line staff are vaccinated with the first dose and 89% are fully vaccinated, which is higher than the total number of workers in the UK, where around 81% are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, for nursing home workers, the deadline to get vaccinated expires this Thursday, otherwise they face the prospect of dismissal.

Representatives of the nursing homes had asked the Government to extend the term or even to abolish the measure of obligation, as they estimate that up to 60,000 employees could leave their positions, ie almost 1/10 of the total workforce in the sector. social welfare.