‘Forced’ jabs for NHS staff a step closer

IT is ‘highly likely’ frontline NHS staff and those in wider social care settings will need to have Covid-19 and flu vaccinations, the Health Secretary said yesterday.

Sajid Javid said he had opened a six-week consultation on requiring staff to get their jabs to protect vulnerable patients.

He added it could become a condition of work for NHS workers after similar plans were announced for care staff.

He told the Commons: ‘I believe it is highly likely that frontline NHS staff and those working in wider social care settings will also have to be vaccinated. This will be an important step in protecting those at greatest risk.’

Under the plans, around 120,000 frontline NHS staff who are still not jabbed could be required by law to be vaccinated.

But Dr Claudia Paoloni, president of the hospital doctors’ union the HCSA, said using the ‘blunt instrument of compulsion rather than persuasion’ will put off hesitant key workers.