London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Covid: Mandatory jabs for health staff being considered in consultation

Covid: Mandatory jabs for health staff being considered in consultation

Compulsory Covid and flu jabs for frontline NHS and care workers in England are being considered in a government consultation.

Plans are already in place to make it mandatory for care home workers in England to be fully vaccinated.

But some unions and care organisations have warned that making the jabs mandatory will lead to staff shortages.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid is urging all health service workers to get both jabs to protect vulnerable patients.

About 88% of NHS trust staff have received two Covid doses, but in some trusts that falls to 78%, figures show.

In the UK, more than 30,000 new daily cases have been reported for nine days in a row and the number of people in hospital with the disease is rising.

The six-week consultation process will take views on whether vaccine requirements should apply for health and wider social care workers - those in contact with patients and people receiving care.

Those working in care homes in England regulated by the Care Quality Commission need to be double jabbed, unless medically exempt, from November.

These latest proposals, if agreed, would extend that to all health service workers and would mean that only those who are fully vaccinated - unless exempt - would be able to be deployed to deliver health and care services.

Care organisations have warned compulsory vaccinations could cause difficulties in a sector that already struggles with recruitment.

Social care minister Helen Whately said about 90% of care home staff have already been vaccinated and the government was working with care homes to support staff who were hesitant about getting the jab.

Asked if they would be sacked if they did not get vaccinated, she told BBC's Breakfast alterative roles would be sought for them outside the care home, adding: "This is really difficult."

She said she had spoken to care home residents and their families who said they wanted workers double vaccinated to give them the most protection against Covid.

Views from government advisory bodies on the plans are mixed.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) Social Care Working Group advises a similar approach to vaccination across social care and health sectors, because the network of residents, patients and workers are so close and often overlap.

While Professor Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said if the proposals did go ahead, it would be "like an admission of failure" and imply that messaging was not effective enough.

"It's like saying you can't either find the time or find the ability to explain to people why it makes sense and create the culture in which everybody does it because they understand why it's important," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The consultation is expected to focus on the proposals, their scope, and any impact on staffing and safety such as reducing staff sickness absence.

Staff, healthcare providers, patients and their families are all being urged to share their view with the government, with a final decision expected this winter.

Mr Javid said it was clear to see the impact vaccines had against respiratory viruses which could be fatal to the vulnerable.

"We will consider the responses to the consultation carefully but, whatever happens, I urge the small minority of NHS staff who have not yet been jabbed to consider getting vaccinated - for their own health as well as those around them," he said.

The government said there was a longstanding precedent for vaccination in NHS roles - some surgeons already have to have Hepatitis B jabs if they are likely to be exposed to the virus.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have not made Covid vaccines compulsory for care home staff.

Flu vaccination has been recommended to vulnerable groups in the UK since the 1960s.

National flu jab rates in the health service have increased over the last decade, from 14% in 2002 to 76% last year.

Experts are warning of a possible surge in flu cases this year as coronavirus lockdowns meant flu levels were very low last winter.



Boris Johnson: "We want the NHS backlogs to be cleared as fast as possible"


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×