Mandatory Covid vaccinations for NHS workforce and health care workers have been dropped, the Health Secretary has confirmed.
The rule was set to be imposed in April - meaning if NHS workers hadn’t had their first jab by Friday they would not be double jabbed in time.
On Monday, Sajid Javid unveiled guidance in the House of Commons setting out that mandatory jabs would be scrapped for health workers.
He said: “Given that Delta has been replaced, it’s only right that our policy on vaccination as a condition of deployment is reviewed. So I asked for fresh advice including from the UK Health Security Agency and England’s chief medical officer.
“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 per cent of England’s population has had at least one positive Covid-19 test, and as as of today in England, 84 per cent of people over 12 have had a primary course of Covid-19 vaccines and 64 per cent have been boosted, including over 90 per cent of over-50s,” he added.
“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 Health Secretary defended the policy of initially introducing mandatory Covid vaccinations for NHS and social care workers.
He said the Government “makes no apology for it”.
Mr Javid told MPs there was a need to consider the impact on the workforce in NHS and social care settings, “especially at a time where we already have a shortage of workers and near full employment across the economy”.
He added: “In December I argued, and this House overwhelmingly agreed, that the weight of clinical evidence in favour of vaccination as a condition of deployment outweighed the risks to the workforce.
“It was the right policy at the time, supported by the clinical evidence, and the Government makes no apology for it. It has also proven to be the right policy in retrospect, given the severity of Delta.”
