The Government has confirmed that it will revoke the Covid vaccine mandate in England this month, amid strong support for the move.
The health and social care secretary announced that patient-facing healthcare staff would no longer be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 just days before the 3 February deadline for unvaccinated staff to get their first Covid vaccine.
Regulations making vaccination a requirement for patient-facing healthcare staff in England were due to come into force on 1 April, with new legislation required to revoke this.
Related Article: No extra testing needed for notifying chickenpox cases, guidance says
In response to a public consultation on revoking the legislation, published today, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed it will ‘bring forward regulations to revoke vaccination as a condition of deployment’.
It said that it ‘fully [recognises] the calls for clarity and for quick revocation of the regulations’ and that the new regulations will come into force on 15 March ‘in order to provide certainty for employers, their staff, patients and people who receive care or support ahead of 1 April’.
The DHSC added that the consultation responses ‘showed clearly the strength of feeling about the policy, both through the large number of total responses received and the clear preferences indicated’.
Out of more than 90,000 consultation responses, 90% of respondents supported revoking the mandate for healthcare staff, with only 9% saying it should still be enforced.
Members of the health and care workforce were ‘highly likely’ to support revocation of the mandate, with 84% in favour, the DHSC said.
Related Article: Mpox case reported in England with no travel or close contact history
It added that the main areas of concern from healthcare stakeholders in favour of revoking the vaccine mandate included:
- Discontent across the board with the ‘timing of communication’ of the Government’s U-turn on the mandate;
- Acknowledgement of the issues ‘already caused as a result of the implementation of the policy to date’ and the effect on ‘relations between managers and staff in increasing uptake’;
- Need for transparency ‘over the timelines for revocation and the need for certainty for staff who are currently not fully vaccinated’;
- Calls for ‘clarity on scope and timeframes’ for guidance on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in healthcare settings.
The DHSC also said it will ‘build on the existing work to support and encourage vaccine uptake’ as it ‘continues to be a clear professional responsibility of all health and social care staff to be vaccinated’.
Responding to the consultation, Pat Cullen, RCN chief executive said it was the ‘right decision’ but added that it ‘comes too late for those who have already lost their jobs’.
Related Article: New government campaign to target AMR threat among young adults
She continued: ‘Ministers must now urgently address the health and social care workforce crisis which is undermining nursing staff’s ability to care safely for their patients. There are tens of thousands of nursing vacancies across those services.’
A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication Pulse.
