Compulsory Covid vaccine plan considered for care home staff as quarter remain without jab
Care home staff could be legally required to have a Covid vaccination under plans being considered by Ministers – as figures reveal more than a quarter of workers in parts of the West Midlands have not had their first dose.
Health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed ministers were looking at making jabs compulsory for care home staff across England, but said "no final decision" had been taken.
The plans have emerged amid concerns over a low uptake among workers in elderly care homes in the country, with NHS data revealing 24 per cent had not been vaccinated by March 14.
Across the Black Country 6,607 out of 8,873 eligible staff, including agency workers, had received a first dose – meaning 26 per cent have not yet had a jab.
This includes Sandwell and Wolverhampton, where 27 per cent of care home staff had not yet had the vaccine, and Dudley, where the figure was 25 per cent.
In Staffordshire 19 per cent of 8,849 eligible staff had received their first dose by March 14.
The proportions have barely changed in recent weeks, despite care home staff being among the top four priority groups to be offered the vaccine by February 15.
Asked about plans for compulsory vaccines, Mr Hancock said: "That sort of approach is already in place for doctors, they have to have the hepatitis B vaccine, and so there's already a clear precedent and there's a duty of care that people have if you work in an elderly care home."
He added: "There’d be a change in the law required, and so this is something that we're considering but we haven't made a final decision on, and we do want to hear from care homes and indeed care home staff, on this question."
Trade union UNISON said proposed mandatory vaccines "smack of a bygone age or of authoritarian regimes".
General secretary Christina McAnea said: "Everyone wants the pandemic over and vaccinations are the route to normality, but turning the clock back to Victorian times by forcing care workers to be jabbed isn’t the way.
“All those who can have the vaccine should. But the key to getting the numbers up is for employers, unions and the government to work together.
“Instead of leaping to the law, ministers could start by putting the funds behind a targeted advertising campaign aimed at care staff."
Nadra Ahmed, chairman of The National Care Association, which represents care providers, said "cultural reasons" were among the factors behind some care home workers not taking up the vaccine.
She also said anti-vax campaigns along with concerns raised over the AstraZeneca vaccine had not helped the cause.
"We support the view that all care home staff should take up the option of the vaccine, however to make it compulsory at this moment in time might not be the right way forward," she added.
