Commenting on reports today (Monday) that the government is about to flip-flop over the rules for mandatory vaccination in health and care in England, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:
“Ministers were repeatedly warned that the vaccination rules would create chaos, but they chose not to listen. This is entirely a crisis of the government’s making.
“Frustratingly, this was all so predictable. Although it looks like a weakened Prime Minister is about to at last sanction a welcome about-turn, the damage has already been done.
“Thousands of care workers have been forced from the jobs they love, leaving employers struggling to provide safe care. Many staff will also have quit the NHS ahead of this week’s deadline.
“These ill-thought-out rules have worsened the staffing crisis hampering the NHS and social care and caused significant upset.
“It’s nothing short of a tragedy that huge amounts of time and resources, which employers could have spent persuading staff to get vaccinated and on patient care, have been wasted.
“Playing politics with the vaccine risks undermining confidence in this important safety measure. It will now be harder for employers to persuade staff to get jabbed and the unvaccinated public will be less likely to come forward.”
Notes to editors:
-UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
