NHS staff would be legally required to have a Covid vaccine under plans to crack down on transmission of the virus within hospitals.
As the Government also prepares to press ahead with plans to oblige care home workers to be vaccinated, ministers are understood to believe that changing the law to apply the requirement to doctors and nurses as well would “save lives”.
Under the plans, having a Covid vaccine would become a condition of employment by the NHS, although the obligation could be targeted at staff deemed to be at the greatest risk of exposure to the virus.
Ministers are said to be “keen” on the unprecedented proposals, which were discussed by senior government figures last week and this weekend.
By the end of this week, it is expected that almost half of all adults in England will have had their second dose of a vaccine. More than half of people in their 30s have been jabbed in just over a fortnight, and those in their 20s are expected to be called for their vaccinations from this week.
The British government is thinking about making COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for healthcare workers to stop the spread of the virus in hospitals, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday.
“It would be incumbent on any responsible government to have the debate, to do the thinking as to how we go about protecting the most vulnerable by making sure that those who look after them are vaccinated,” he told Sky News.
“There is precedent for this; obviously surgeons get vaccinated for hepatitis B. So it’s something that we are absolutely thinking about.”
Photo: A medical worker outside St Thomas’ Hospital, Central London, Britain. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER
