On Monday, the United Kingdom’s Health Minister Sajid Javid announced that their government would be opening discussions on ending the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in light of growing evidence that the Omicron variant is significantly less severe than previous variants of the virus.
“Last Thursday, we woke up to a new phase of this pandemic, as we returned to Plan A,” Javid said before Parliament. “People are no longer advised to work from home. Face coverings are no longer mandatory. Organizations no longer have to require the NHS Covid Pass. And from today, there’s no limit on the number of visitors allowed to care homes. Week by week, we are carefully moving our COVID response from one of rules and restrictions, back to one of personal responsibility.”
“We know of course that COVID-19 is here to stay,” he continued. “While some countries remain stuck on a zero-COVID strategy and others think about how they will safely open up here, we’re showing the way forward, and showing the world what successfully living with COVID looks like. The principle we’re applying is the same principle that’s guided our actions throughout this pandemic: and that is to achieve the maximum protection of public health with the minimum intrusion in people’s everyday lives. To me, this is what learning to live with COVID is all about.”
Javid then addressed the vaccine mandate for health care workers, saying, “When we consulted on Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment in the NHS and wider social care settings the evidence showed that vaccine effectiveness against infection from the dominant Delta variant has been, or was, between 65 and 80 percent depending on which vaccines you had received.”
“Balanced against this clear benefit was the risk that there would always be some people who would not do the responsible thing and choose to remain unvaccinated and in doing so, choosing to walk away from their jobs in health and care,” he added.
After pointing to the decreased hospitalization rates resulting from the Omicron variant, Javid said, “While vaccination remains our very best line of defense against COVID-19, I believe it is no longer proportionate to require Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment through statute. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, today I am announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment in health and all social care settings. Subject to the responses – and the will of this House – the Government will revoke the regulations.”
“It is now in our national interest to embark on this new phase of the pandemic where we keep the British people safe while showing the world how we can successfully live with COVID-19,” Javid concluded.