Workplaces May Need To Keep Strict PPE And Infection Controls Long After The Vaccine
Workplaces will have to continue using strict PPE and other infection control measures long after the Covid vaccine becomes available if employees can’t or refuse to have the jab.
In the absence of any legislation that states workers must have the vaccine, employers can encourage take-up but can’t force it, and there is nothing to stop people from continuing to work.
It is already causing issues in some care homes.
Nadra Ahmed, from the National Care Association (NCA) says information from members and other industry bodies suggest the number of people refusing to have the jab is falling, but some 6-7% of care staff still remain nervous or resistant due to health and cultural reasons, as well as misinformation from anti-vaccination groups.
That figure was at between 18-20% at the start of the vaccine rollout, despite repeated calls from Boris Johnson for everyone to get the jab when it is their turn.
Ahmed told HuffPost UK: “We have care providers asking us what they should do because they’ve got staff who are refusing to take the vaccine.
“The pressure is on our services to make sure that we can keep everyone as safe as physically possible. So we fell into this really challenging scenario. We don’t force our staff to have the flu vaccine which is available to us now, so there is precedent.
“The legal advice is absolutely clear, that you can encourage people, but you can’t make anybody have it. And that’s where we sit.”
Ahmed says the fall in the numbers is down to a push from providers to address fears and anxieties and the body is committed to continuing a myth-busting thrust to provide information. She added that many were now being persuaded as they saw colleagues receive the jab.
She said: “We know there are some providers who have got figures as high as 25% of people who are not willing to have the vaccine in their services and then we’ve got some who have got as low as 4% or just one member of staff who is saying they don’t have to have...
