Sacking vaccine refuseniks harms the NHS
The spat between vaccine sceptical King’s College London intensive care consultant Steve James and health minister Sajid Javid, and a maternity unit threatened with closure because most of its 40 midwives are refusing Covid-19 jab, have grabbed the headlines. But my GP colleagues are alarmed at the impending departure of long-serving nurses, receptionists, health care assistants and pharmacists as the February deadline for the first jab draws closer.
As the severity of Covid-19 infection declines, coercive measures against the vaccine-hesitant seem to be gathering momentum. Successive waves of epidemic infection, a successful jab programme and improvements in hospital treatments have resulted in a dramatic reduction in serious illness and death.
Yet the Government seems determined to press ahead with plans to sack NHS workers who refuse vaccination. Even if many of the estimated 73,000 NHS refuseniks finally comply, a substantial number are likely to persist and lose their jobs – at a time when sickness absenteeism is already at record levels and morale is low.
Talking to vaccinehesitant colleagues, it is apparent that stepping up the pressure is counterproductive: they are more likely to double down in their defiance. The mounting vindictiveness of public invective against “anti-vaxxers” provokes resentment and reinforces distrust of authorities. For some NHS staff, rejecting vaccination has become a gesture of personal resistance in response to a pandemic that has left them feeling exhausted and demoralised.
Many jab-refusers, like Steve James and the dissident midwives, take a stand on the principle of “bodily autonomy”. I have long been impressed at the divergent interpretations of this principle in relation to vaccination policy in different countries.
In much of Europe, a Prussian authoritarian tradition prevails in public health and jab mandates are commonplace. The European Court of Human Rights has rejected recent appeals against compulsory Covid vaccination in Greece. In the US, hostility to the “free rider” (a refuser who benefits from population immunity conferred by others who accept the risk of inoculation) exceeds historic anti-state sentiments, and childhood immunisation is effectively compulsory.
Dr James and the midwives take refuge in what vaccine specialist Peter English dubs the “Nirvana” fallacy – the claim that because jab does not provide 100 per cent protection against infection and transmission, then it is not worth having. But, even if inoculation only provides a modest degree of protection (to the individual and their patients) then healthcare workers should still take the responsibility of getting vaccinated.
In recognition of the scale of the staffing crisis threatened by the Covid vaccination deadline, professional organisations and unions have called for “a pause”. I would suggest that January 26, the day when most Covid restrictions are due to be lifted, would be a good day for another pandemic U-turn.
Although I remain a staunch advocate of vaccination, I believe that it is timely to lift the threat of compulsion and allow discussion to continue in a less febrile climate.
Mum’s the word
The prominent role of tennis star Novak Djokovic’s mother Dijana in the debacle of his deportation from Australia over the Covid-19 vaccination issue has attracted international attention. She claims that he suffered “torture and harassment” and “brutal human rights violations” in an immigration detention hotel in Melbourne.
Novak’s mother also complains that, in the course of his confinement, the “healthiest guy in the world” was denied a proper breakfast. This reminded me of the trend for mothers to bring their adult children into the surgery.
When I started in general practice young children occasionally turned up unaccompanied at the surgery and it was necessary to check whether this indicated difficulties at home. In more recent years, this problem has been entirely displaced by that of infantilised students and young adults being dragged in by their mothers, and even fathers. Although parents are often helpful, I sometimes wonder whether their children, like Novak (35), need to grow up.
Absenteeism is at record levels and morale is already low