UK likely to require health workers to be vaccinated against COVID


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LONDON - Britain is highly likely to require front-line health and social care workers in England to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Tuesday.

Javid said the government had launched a consultation on protecting vulnerable patients by making COVID-19 and flu vaccinations a condition of deployment for frontline health and wider social care staff in England.

"I believe that it is highly likely that front line NHS staff and those working in wider social care settings will also have to be vaccinated to protect those that are around them," Javid told parliament.

"Data continues to show that the link between cases, hospitalisations, and deaths has weakened significantly since the start of the pandemic," the government said in its plan, entitled "COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan".

Javid told parliament that the government had a Plan B to deal with the virus if the health service came under unsustainable pressure.

Plan B would include a mandatory vaccine certificate in some settings, legally mandating face coverings in certain settings and the government would consider asking people to work from home again for a limited period.

The plans said the government "would seek to give businesses at least one week’s notice" before a requirement for mandatory vaccine certificates came into force.

 

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Paul Sandle; editing by Michael Holden)

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