Deborah Sturdy, the chief nurse for adult social care in England, has urged the sector to participate in the government’s consultation on mandatory staff Covid jab proposals.
Last month, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched the five-week consultation on requiring older adult care home providers to deploy only those workers who have received their Covid-19 vaccination to protect residents and staff.
As of 6 May, nearly 82 per cent of staff working in older adult care homes in England had received their first vaccination.
The Social Care Working Group of SAGE has advised an uptake rate of 80 per cent in staff in care homes is needed to provide a minimum level of protection against further outbreaks.
Sturdy (pictured) said the proposals are “another layer of protection” like PPE, testing or restricting staff movement between care settings.
“We also believe it could help level out significant regional variations in vaccination uptake, which the national picture can’t reflect. London, for example, has a significantly lower uptake rate than other parts of England,” she added.
“With an issue as complex and nuanced as this, the government really wants to get it right - and with the views of care colleagues at the very heart of its decision making.”
The DHSC consultation remains open until Friday 21 May at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/making-vaccination-a-condition-of-deployment-in-older-adult-care-homes.
