NHS on ‘knife edge’ amid Covid vaccine mandate for healthcare workers

The UK government’s new vaccine mandate for healthcare workers has come under fire amid fears it will exacerbate chronic staff shortages.

Britain’s health secretary’s announcement that all frontline health workers in England must be vaccinated against Covid by April 1 or lose their jobs, has sparked warnings from employers and trade unions that the move will aggravate staff shortages.

“We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS and, of course, protect the NHS itself,” Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told parliament, referring to the National Health Service.

A video grab from the UK parliament shows Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

He said that about 90 per cent of the service’s workers had received at least two vaccine doses.

This means there are up to 100,000 NHS workers in England who are unvaccinated, raising fears about how the service will cope if they lose their jobs.

“Support for making vaccination a condition for deployment was tempered with concerns that some people may choose to leave their posts if we went ahead with this,” Mr Javid said. “I have carefully considered the responses and the evidence and I’ve concluded that the scales clearly tip on one side. The weight of the data shows how our vaccinations have kept people safe and they have saved lives and this is especially true for vulnerable people in health and care settings.”

You don't want to miss this 🔥💉

In a rather spikey exchange, we push the Health Secretary @sajidjavid on how much compulsory jabs for NHS staff will actually protect the vulnerable. #KayBurley JJ pic.twitter.com/DwtuPlUDpl

— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) November 10, 2021

However, many are warning that the move could plunge the health system into crisis at a time when it is already struggling to cope.

“The NHS is under the most intense pressure this winter already, we know the waiting lists are at close to 6 million,” said Labour’s health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth.

“There will be anxiety … that a policy, however laudable in principle, could exacerbate some of these chronic understaffing problems.

“We simply cannot afford to lose thousands of NHS staff overnight,” he added.

Nursing union officer Stuart Tuckwood meanwhile warned that “adopting this compulsory approach could actually demoralise staff, could force them to leave the health service at a time when we’re very, very much struggling with staffing numbers.”

“The NHS is really constantly on a knife edge at the moment in terms of staffing levels,” he told AFP. “It really doesn’t take much to push the health service into crisis at the moment.”

Why is @BBCr4today still not mentioning millions have natural immunity in the population having had Covid?
Superior immunity to the kind you get from vaccine.
Many care workers have had COVID. Let them work.
@sajidjavid

— Allison Pearson (@AllisonPearson) November 10, 2021

. @GOVUK

Stop ignoring known science and give all front line NHS workers antibody tests.
To force them to have an injection they clearly do not want and most likely, do not need, is outrageous.
To create a staffing crisis right now.. unforgivable. @sajidjavid

— Adam Brooks (@EssexPR) November 9, 2021

Julia: "Can you provide a guarantee to me and my listeners that the compulsory jab rule will not be extended to any other jobs?"

Sajid Javid: "The nature of my job as Health Secretary in a pandemic means there are not many guarantees."@JuliaHB1 | @sajidjavidpic.twitter.com/4YAeyUIrDt

— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) November 10, 2021

Little by little these traitors in Govt will cut across every work sector demanding mandatory jabs.

You think they will stop at NHS workers? Not a chance!

These people think they are our masters.

Right @sajidjavid

They work for us. It's time to remind them.

— Sonia Poulton (@SoniaPoulton) November 10, 2021

The government had already announced that all care home workers will need to have had both jabs from November 11, but was waiting on the findings of a consultation before extending it to all NHS frontline staff.

Exemptions will be available for people who are medically prevented from receiving vaccines and for health workers who have no face-to-face contact with patients.

Patients waiting for Covid testing.

The move comes at a time when the publicly-funded health service is already facing a huge waiting list due to a dramatic reduction in appointments during the pandemic.

The NHS, which is funded from general taxation and National Insurance contributions, is Europe’s biggest employer and one of the biggest in the world, with some 1.3 million staff.

Other countries including United States, France and Italy have imposed mandates on specific workers.

The British government has been repeatedly criticised for its response to the coronavirus pandemic since the outbreak hit in early 2020.

So far, nearly 142,000 people have died within 28 days of a positive test for Covid.

But ministers have so far resisted calls to impose general vaccine requirements in enclosed public spaces, and although daily case levels have fallen over recent days, the seven-day average is still nearly 37,500.

A freedom of information request by the Telegraph revealed that 11,688 people caught Covid and died after being admitted to NHS hospitals in England for other ailments, the newspaper reported on Monday.