Regulations making vaccines a condition of deployment for health
and social care staff are set to be revoked, subject to public
consultation and parliamentary approval, the Health and Social
Care Secretary has announced.
The government has been clear that it keeps all COVID-19 measures
under review. When vaccination as a condition of deployment was
introduced Delta was the dominant variant representing 99% of
cases. Omicron has now replaced Delta as the dominant variant at
96% of cases.
Two vaccine doses against Omicron also become less effective over
time, which is why the Get Boosted Now campaign was launched in
December. The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency
(UKHSA) shows boosters are around 90% effective in preventing
hospitalisation from Omicron soon after they are administered.
Over 31 million boosters in England alone, and over 37 million in
the UK, have now been administered providing a good level of
protection across the country. This, coupled with the lower
levels of hospitalisation and mortality, suggests the population
as a whole is now better protected, with the latest evidence
suggesting that the risk of presentation to emergency care or
hospital admission is approximately half of that for Delta.
As a result, the government has re-examined the policy as it
considers how best to achieve public health and safety with the
minimum number of restrictions or requirements on people’s lives.
The balance of opportunities and risks of the policy have now
changed with the dominance of Omicron. The booster rollout has
been successful, and workforce challenges remain.
While the legal requirement on deployment is set to be
revoked those working in health and social care still have a
professional duty to get vaccinated and Get Boosted Now.
The government will work closely with Royal Colleges and
professional regulators to strengthen guidance, and consult on
updates to the Department of Health and Social Care’s Code of
Practice for regulated providers to strengthen the requirements
in relation to COVID-19, which applies to all CQC registered
providers of all health and social care in England.
Since the consultation on health and wider social care staff was
announced in September more than 127,000 NHS staff came forward
for a vaccine and 95% have now had at least one dose.
After the consultation on vaccines as a condition of deployment
was launched and regulations laid uptake among care home staff
rose from 77% to 94.5%, helping to build a wall of protection.
These changes with be subject to a period of consultation,
parliamentary approval and will require a change to the
regulations already laid.
NOTES TO EDITORS
A checked against delivery version of the Oral Statement by the
Health and Social Care Secretary can be found here
Latest UKHSA data on
vaccine effectiveness against Omicron shows:
- After a Pfizer booster (after either primary vaccination
course), vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation started at
around 90% dropping to around 75% after 10 to 14 weeks.
- After a Moderna booster (after either primary vaccination
course), vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90 to
95% up to 9 weeks after vaccination.
- Measures to encourage vaccination included prioritising
health and social care workers for jabs, reimbursing social care
workers’ travel costs and covering wages when getting a jab as
well as a series of media campaigns.
