Plymouth in UNISON was glad to hear UNISON General Secretary Christine McAnea and others speaking out against to folly of vaccine mandates in the NHS.
Its already been a disaster in the Care Sector with valuable staff choosing to leave rather than be bullied into something. Anecdotal evidence is emerging that this is having a knock on effect on hospital discharge among other things.
Commenting on the announcement from health secretary Sajid Javid that all NHS staff in patient-facing roles will need to be Covid double jabbed by 1 April, UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said:
“This wasn’t something the government needed to do. The effective and supportive approach taken by NHS trusts has persuaded the overwhelming majority of health staff to have both Covid shots.
“Now this sledgehammer approach risks doing more harm than good. Without knowing what proportion of staff are covered by exemptions, creating a new law seems extreme. It will move effort and attention away from caring for Covid patients and clearing the backlog created by the pandemic.
“Forcing jabs in care homes has prompted an unprecedented staffing crisis. The government risks making the same mistake twice. Practical alternatives like daily testing used in other countries should have been considered.”
We have already spoken to staff worried about being railroaded and will be lobbying politicians to reject this draconian measure.
We of course reject the foolish conspiracy theories of the anti-vax crowd. If unison believed the vaccine was not safe we would not recommend taking it. It is possible some problems may emerge over time but for the moment the dangers of getting covid19 appear to be much greater and we would like members to be vaccinated for their own health and protection. But we want you to have the liberty to make that choice without having to change jobs and using real information instead of the culture war noise being amplified in both social and mainstream media.
Information is still scarce on if how and when these proposals will be implemented, the most up to date we have is on the link below.
