Thousands of unvaccinated NHS workers in Yorkshire to avoid the sack after Government u-turn

Thousands of NHS workers in Yorkshire would have been on the verge of losing their jobs if the Government had not u-turned on plans to make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory.

Official figures show 72,105 members of staff (4.7 per cent) in England, including 7,660 in Yorkshire and the North East, had not received a single dose by January 30.

Frontline workers who have contact with patients were told they would be dismissed or redeployed if they did not accept their first jab by February 3 and two by April 1.

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But earlier this week health secretary Sajid Javid said the policy is “no longer proportionate” because the risk of hospitalisation and death has reduced after Delta was replaced by the less severe Omicron as the dominant variant.

72,105 NHS workers in England, including 7,660 in Yorkshire and the North East, had not received a single jab by January 30.72,105 NHS workers in England, including 7,660 in Yorkshire and the North East, had not received a single jab by January 30.
72,105 NHS workers in England, including 7,660 in Yorkshire and the North East, had not received a single jab by January 30.

Dr Brian McGregor, chair of the British Medical Association’s Yorkshire branch, said he is relieved the rule has been scrapped as it could exacerbate staffing shortages, at a time when the NHS is responding to the pandemic and attempting to clear a huge backlog of patients waiting for treatment.

He said: “We know that the workforce is severely depleted, and why would you want to voluntarily reduce that workforce further if you could possibly avoid it?”

“For us the recommendation is that people should have the vaccine, but we wouldn’t want to impose it on people.

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“We want to be having a discussion and debate, encouraging people to see the sense of it.

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“There’s a concern about the fact that these (unvaccinated) people work in the NHS, but we want to understand why these individuals are choosing not to have the vaccine when they’re surrounded by medical scientists who are all recommending it.”

Earlier this week, Mr Javid said everyone working in health and social care has a professional duty to be vaccinated against Covid-19, and the Government “makes no apology” for the initial policy.

But he acknowledged that there will always be some who will walk away from their jobs over getting the jab.

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“We have to consider the impact on the workforce in NHS and social care settings, especially at a time when we already have a shortage of workers and near full employment across the economy,” he said.

However, the minister has also asked the NHS to review its policies on hiring new staff and deploying current staff, taking into account their vaccination status.

The Government claimed more than 127,000 NHS staff came forward for a vaccine after it announced the mandatory jab policy would be introduced.

Mandatory vaccination for care home staff in England came into force on November 11 and NHS figures show more than 42,000 had not been fully vaccinated by that deadline.

But the Government has also announced it is planning to scrap that requirement.