We need a clear strategy on vaccination

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for adult social care workers in the UK has been approved and comes into effect in November. The duty to be vaccinated will apply not only to employees, but will extend to all agency workers, volunteers, healthcare workers and tradespeople who might be engaged by a home. Those medically exempt will not be vaccinated and, similarly, any visitors of residents who are exempt will also be excluded from new Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) rules.

The DHSC (2021) launched a consultation this month aimed at ‘protecting patients by mandating vaccination for frontline health and social care staff in England’, which covers both the COVID-19 and flu vaccines and is open to the public. The consultation proposes that, if introduced, requirements would apply to frontline health and care workers, and would mean that only workers who have been vaccinated, or those with a legitimate medical exemption, could be deployed to deliver those services.