Javid: NHS staff who refuse vaccines could be moved to 'non-patient facing roles'
10 November 2021, 11:35
Unvaccinated NHS staff could be moved to non-patient-facing roles
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said compulsory jabs for NHS staff is "the right call"
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the decision to make vaccines compulsory for staff was "about patient safety", telling LBC's Nick Ferrari: "The vast majority of NHS workers are already vaccinated and I want to, of course, thank them for that.
"They've done that not only to protect themselves or their colleagues, most of all I think they've done it to protect their patients.
Read more: Mandatory Covid jabs for NHS staff 'blunt instrument', JCVI member says
"We know that people in hospital, they're already very vulnerable and the last thing they want is to be exposed to Covid-19 when it could have been prevented, and that can be fatal for them in that condition.
"I think, ultimately, this is the right call - it is the duty of the NHS and the Government to do everything that we can to protect vulnerable people."
Read more: Over 120,000 healthcare workers could quit over mandatory Covid vaccine
Yesterday, the Health Secretary announced that frontline NHS workers and social care staff in England will need to be jabbed to continue in their jobs from April 1 next year, unless they are exempt.
Read more: James O'Brien caller: 'Hysteria' in care homes as providers scramble for staff
He told LBC staff who refuse could be moved to non-patient facing roles, adding: "Let's think about the situation where that nurse stayed in that role or remained unvaccinated and was perhaps infected by Covid asymptomatically, not even knowing, going around ward to ward, patient to patient, perhaps it's your grandma, your uncle, your grand-dad, and infecting them. I think you'd have me on the show saying 'why didn't you do anything about it?'."
He said the 70,000 vacancies that may arise as a result of the move was a "cautious estimate".
