Revoking vaccination as a
condition of deployment across all health and social care:
consultation response
Consultation responses:
data tables
Respondent demographics:
data tables
Detail of outcome
The government conducted a public consultation from 9 to 16
February 2022 on whether to revoke provisions which require
COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment in health and
social care settings. This is the formal government response to
that consultation. The government’s response confirms that they
intend to proceed with bringing forward regulations to revoke
vaccination as a condition of deployment.
Original consultation Summary
We are seeking your views on revoking provisions which require
COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment in health and
social care settings.
This consultation ran from
12:45pm on 9 February 2022 to 11:45pm on 16 February 2022
Consultation description
Given the changes in clinical evidence the government is
revisiting the balance of risks and benefits that guided its
original decisions to make coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination a
condition of deployment.
When vaccination as a condition of deployment was first
introduced, Delta was the dominant variant.
Omicron has now replaced Delta as the dominant variant,
representing up to 99% of cases across some regions.
While Omicron still presents a threat to public health,
especially for those that are unvaccinated, relative to Delta, it
is intrinsically less severe.
This has resulted in the risk of presentation to emergency care
or hospital admission with Omicron being approximately half of that for
Delta. When coupled with the high vaccination rate in the
population, this has meant the impact of the circulation of
Omicron has been less than initially feared.
The government has listened to the best and latest clinical and
scientific advice and considered how we can achieve public health
and safety with the minimum number of restrictions or
requirements on people’s lives.
While vaccination remains our very best line of defence against
COVID-19, and all people working in health and social care
settings have a professional duty to be vaccinated, the view of
this government is that it is no longer proportionate to require
vaccination as a condition of deployment through statute in
health, care homes or other social care settings.
The consultation seeks views on the intention to revoke the
policy.
The easiest way to participate is by completing the public
survey.
DHSC privacy notice
Documents
Revoking vaccination as a
condition of deployment across all health and social
care
