Regulations making COVID-19 vaccination a condition of deployment in health and social care will be revoked on Tuesday 15 March, the Health and Social Care Secretary has confirmed today (Tuesday 1 March).
Following a public consultation, where 90% of responses supported the removal of the legal requirement for health and social care staff to be double jabbed, the government is revoking the regulations.
In January, the government confirmed its intention to revoke vaccination as a condition of deployment, subject to consultation.
When the original decision was taken to introduce COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment, Delta was the dominant variant. This has since been replaced by Omicron which is less severe, with the percentage of those requiring emergency care or hospital admission approximately half that of the Delta variant.
The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that five to nine weeks after getting a booster, you are at least 85% less likely to end up in hospital than if you are unvaccinated.
With the population better protected and lower levels of hospitalisations and mortality, it was right to revisit the balance of risks and benefits that had guided the government’s original decisions to introduce vaccination as a condition of deployment in health and social care. The number of restrictions, rules and regulations are now being reduced – including this requirement.
Opinion
A necessary but painful u-turn for the government.
At Delta’s peak, ensuring staff were ‘double jabbed’ was seen as essential to saving the most vulnerable. Compulsory vaccination struck a raw nerve with many, leading to considerable contention.
Now COVID has been defanged by the vaccination scheme and a less dangerous variant is abundant, the balance has shifted; pushing the policy into the overcautious category.
Of course those who were forced to resign due to not being vaccinated may see this differently. A government on thin ice with repeated lockdown scandals of their own, may wish to avoid being blamed for forcing out health and social care workers during a cost of living crisis.
While the vast majority of NHS, social care and other healthcare staff have been double jabbed, the government is clear those working in health and social care who remain unvaccinated still have a professional responsibility to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and Get Boosted Now.
The government is continuing to work closely with Royal Colleges and professional regulators to strengthen guidance and consult on updating the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections in relation to COVID-19 requirements for CQC registered providers of health and social care in England.
The lifting of these regulations and the easing of restrictions as we learn to live with COVID-19 will help us to continue to chart a course back to normality.
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