The jab crisis

Wednesday 17th November 2021 05:17 EST
 

More than 93% of NHS frontline staff have had their first dose and 90% are fully vaccinated, yet NHS figures showed last week that about 34,000 employees were set to be pulled off the front line because they were not jabbed against the virus. Reports also show that even those who have had one dose will not be allowed shifts until they have had both.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This is all about patient safety. We know that people, whether they are in care homes or they are in a hospital bed, are particularly vulnerable to this virus and it could be fatal. “It’s our duty to do everything we can to protect them.” As care homes could lose at least one or more staff due to this rule, the government rejected last-minute calls for a deadline extension to April in line with NHS staff and home carers. The figure, from the National Care Forum (NCF), is based on research conducted early in November with not-forprofit member organisations running 300 services, supporting 11,000 people and employing 14,000 staff. These providers say 3.5% of their staff have already left because of the vaccination mandate, with 4.4% more who could yet leave, including those who are seeking a medical exemption or have self-certified.

A BBC report said, “Self-certification of a medical exemption to being vaccinated allows care staff to continue in their jobs until 24 December. After that, they must get a formal medical exemption, and employers are worried that some will not succeed. Recent reports have suggested there is already an exodus among England's 1.54 million care workers, across the entire sector, from residential homes to providers of care in clients' own homes.” The National Care Forum said 58 per cent of its members are running disciplinary hearings related to the law and half have had to pay out for legal advice, The Sun reported.

Reacting to the news, Dr Chaand Nagpaul tweeted, “So government mandates vaccinations for NHS staff to protect patients but doesn't mandate face coverings/space/ventilation to protect the same patients boarding a crowded bus with unvaccinated infectious unmasked passengers breathing onto them inches away.” The urgency to vaccinate health care staff further picked up speed when Telegraph reported that more than 11,000 people have caught Covid and died after being admitted to NHS hospitals for other ailments. Meanwhile, Mirror reported that PM Johnson on a visit to a hospital in Hexham ‘sauntered around without a mask’. It is now reported that he was asked three times to wear a face-covering but was seen to be breaking the rules


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