Covid vaccinations to be made compulsory for care home staff

I work in a care home. Most staff have been vaccinated but we have a group of staff who have not. These are mostly Eastern Europeans ( Poles, Lithuanian and Romanians) but also young girls and a few others who are I think attention seekers.
The rest of the staff are not happy with them not being vaccinated and would rather not work with them.
Not only are they risking the residents but other staff and families.
They also tried ( unsuccessfully) to avoid the twice weekly testing.
I and the rest of the vaccinated staff would like to see COVID vaccination compulsory and see what happens to the staff who have refused to be vaccinated. Some will make a stand and say the government is trying to keep tabs on everyone via some device in the jab ( this is the Eastern European stance) and they might leave, the young girls ( who have heard about fertility issues) will be reassured and the time wasters well who cares about them.

I think it should be compulsory ...unless medical reason why not. When I worked in the NHS the occupation health team arrived one day out of the blue .....just came in, said roll up your sleeve .....tetanus injection ! No if, what or maybe ....just do it ! we were all working at the time so just sat down, rolled up our sleeves and got a little card with the date on .....never thought anything of it ...certainly had no need to complain ...I worked there, with vulnerable people in the hospital and was quite happy to comply ! Anyone refusing it simply on 'don't want it' grounds should lose their jobs.

The people in care homes are vulnerable, so absolutely the staff should have the vaccine. Most of the reasons they come up with not to have it are ridiculous.
Covid had changed our world forever, so we have to change with it.
I had my vaccine very early on, I work for nhs. I was so grateful to be in a position to get it. And nothing untoward has happened to me.

I'm not greatly in favour of compulsory anything, but I feel that in certain kinds of employment, especially in the caring professions, it's a no-brainer.
If for some reason you are so opposed to vaccines that you really won't have them, then the onus is on you to find a career where it is less important.

Yes.

But they already do. There are a whole range of medicaments and addictive products that are not allowed to be purchased over the counter, then there are drinking laws that bans people from selling alcohol to children, not to mention all the laws banning contamination of food and insisting on high standards of hygiene etc in places handling fresh food.

Glenco

Granny Gravy "I have thought long and hard about this and I keep coming back to the same place where I am uncertain that this could raise a precedent whereby it becomes law to have certain vaccines pre-school etc."
Why should that be a problem? Some children are unable to have vaccines because of allergies or other health problems. This makes them very vulnerable to anything going about so if another child happens to be ill or a carrier of a serious (or not so serious, eg flu) they could infect the vulnerable child who could then become extremely ill because someone else chose not to vaccinate. It's more to protect others than anything else. Where would we be if not for previous vaccines like polio?

Glenco I agree with your post.

I am just uncomfortable with the basic principle of this or any Government legislating away our power to decide what we put into our bodies.

Granny Gravy "I have thought long and hard about this and I keep coming back to the same place where I am uncertain that this could raise a precedent whereby it becomes law to have certain vaccines pre-school etc."
Why should that be a problem? Some children are unable to have vaccines because of allergies or other health problems. This makes them very vulnerable to anything going about so if another child happens to be ill or a carrier of a serious (or not so serious, eg flu) they could infect the vulnerable child who could then become extremely ill because someone else chose not to vaccinate. It's more to protect others than anything else. Where would we be if not for previous vaccines like polio?

There is a chronic shortage of staff in care homes this will make the situation much worse,as non vaxers will leave.
I agree in principal that carers and health staff should be vaccinated but as l said it will create problems.lts a job very few people want to do or have the skills to do.

Every polite request for sources and evidence has been deflected and/or ignored, surely that speaks volumes.

From a personal perspective, I think one of the biggest sources of misinformation has come via Twitter and the blueticked (verified) accounts there...some have a huge following, are on TV in the guise of experts and yet repeatedly publish ridiculous claims.

Ideally someone who refuses to be vaccinated should be offered a post where they don't come into contact with residents or colleagues who are working with residents. This might be difficult, but would possibly avoid accusations of unfair dismissal or discrimination. I suspect a number will come round to being vaccinated as they find they are prevented from travelling abroad, going to public events etc. Difficult but this is the age we are in

No exemptions, I wouldn't wish to be looked after in my fragile state by the unvaccinated. Those workers with medical concerns should be given every support to resolve their questions.

Yes I fully agree with it. And also so should all teachers, NHS workers, police ambulance fire brigade in fact all public service workers, and those in close contact with the public. Compulsory or no job

Biscuitmuncher

Talullah being vaccinated against a disease so horrendous most people don't know they've got it!

You have looked at what's been happening in India, haven't you Biscuitmuncher? Or do you think those horrendous scenes are faked just to put the fear in us? FFS.

Only in England

As it is becoming compulsory for the staff so it should be for the resident, their families and visitors. The staff too need to remain safe. The management must be made accountable for providing safe PPE. Its going to be a nightmare. Before anyone says any thing I have had both my vaccinations and worked in health care for nearly 40 years.

I work in a care home and it should be noted that regardless of vaccine status we are tested 1-3 times a week.

Paperbackwriter

Alegrias1

They put into place several months ago, no vaccination no job, and definitely no sick pay.

Is that legal?

All doctors and surgeons have to be vaccinated against Hepatitis so why not care home staff against Covid? Though I have to say it's a bit stable door/bolted, isn't it? The damage has been done in care homes and now surely the inmates are vaccinated, aren't they?

I don't think its legal to withhold sick pay if you are entitled to it.

Others think there may be round it.

If I'd tried to withhold sick pay from my staff when I was working, I'd have been at a tribunal quick as you like.

Sorry, I don't have the energy today to read all 8 pages of comments but if anyone is struggling to understand the brainwashed anti-vaxxers, the channel 4 documentary "The Anti-vax Conspiracy" sets out who is spreading deliberate misinformation and how they're profiting from their "followers". it really is a Cult. (Now available on All4) Also the Panorama documentary "Vaccines: The Disinformation War in the UK" now available on iPlayer. Neither of course will be watched by anti-vaxxers because they only want confirmation of their fears; the last thing they want is facts to disprove them.

Alegrias1

^They put into place several months ago, no vaccination no job, and definitely no sick pay.^

Is that legal?

All doctors and surgeons have to be vaccinated against Hepatitis so why not care home staff against Covid? Though I have to say it's a bit stable door/bolted, isn't it? The damage has been done in care homes and now surely the inmates are vaccinated, aren't they?

As a nurse , had to have Anti hepatitis vaccinations, and the swine flu vaccine was mandatory. As a young cadet nurse had to have smallpox inoculation, polio booster and had to be checked for TB again. So nothing new here. Education is the key, and reassurance from more knowledgeable people re reproduction effects, which was stated as one cause of not having the vaccine. BMJ has produced a paper on this

Greeneyedgirl I can fully understand how you feel, it must be very worrying, but, hopefully, by now, your mother will have had both her jabs and is protected from the dangerous actions of your sister, or anyone else she comes in contact with.

The only person now at risk is your sister.

This thread is quite upsetting to me because PinkCakes spouts exactly the same non evidenced beliefs as my younger sister, and I found that trying to counteract with actual scientific evidence just entrenched her “beliefs”. The final straw came last year when my sister illegally travelled from a lockdown area (train and taxi) to visit my 96 year old housebound mother who wasn’t yet vaccinated. I asked her to leave and she hasn’t spoken to me since. I am anxious that she may appear again unannounced at my mother’s at any time, won’t have had any vaccines, wear masks or socially distance,

PinkCakes it is because we are taking all the precautions and are vaccinated that most of us are not fearful.

I am going about my normal life, seeing my friends, visiting my family, we have builders in at present extending our house. I am doing all my usual activities and even waiting, passport in hand to get back to France and our holiday home there. No fear here. Just sensible precautions against infection.

If you want us to see the world your way you need to explain why your way is the right way, so many of us have asked you do that again and again and again and you just will not. Why won't you?

PippaZ

There are those ignorant or dismissive of facts, ignorant or dismissive of how to quote accurately and ignorant or dismissive of other opinions than theirs - especially dismissing those who are expert in this area. When you get to this stage it becomes a faith rather than a fact-based opinion.

I think the only thing you can do at this point is to tell such people we will be there for them if they realise what they are caught up in.

You are right. It is a cult because they are teaching people to turn away from their family and friends if they do not do what THEY want them to and that is the mark of a cult- separating people from their loved ones and controlling them. They are brainwashed. They can't see it. And yet, they say WE are controlled with fear. Ha!

These people cannot handle it if people won't do what they say, so they either control them or block them. They live in an Echo chamber, poor things.