The legal requirement for health and social care staff to be double jabbed will be removed from 15 March, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced.
Following a public consultation, where 90% of responses supported the removal of the legal requirement for health and social care staff to be double jabbed, the government is revoking the regulations. In January, the government confirmed its intention to revoke vaccination as a condition of deployment, subject to consultation.
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‘While we commit to these actions, we also have measures in place to ensure that those most vulnerable to COVID-19 remain protected in health and social care settings, as well as across the country,’ said Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid.
When the original decision was taken to introduce COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment, Delta was the dominant variant. This has since been replaced by Omicron which is less severe, with the percentage of those requiring emergency care or hospital admission approximately half that of the Delta variant.
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‘While the shielding programme ended on 15 September 2021, we have made new antibody and antiviral treatments available to people who are at highest risk of becoming seriously ill who test positive for COVID-19, to help reduce the development of severe COVID-19,’ added Mr Javid.