Consultation Issued On Mandatory Vaccination For All Frontline Workers In Health And Social Care Settings

• Published date: 04 October 2021
• Subject Matter: Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Employment and Workforce Wellbeing
• Law Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
• Author: Ms Emma Burrows and Nicola Ihnatowicz

On 9 September the DHSC issued a consultation (which closes on 22 October) which looks at whether mandatory vaccination should be required of all those in contact with patients and people receiving care, except those medically exempt.

The consultation proposes that mandatory vaccination is extended to all that conduct a CQC activity. The remit of CQC regulated activities is extensive, and as well as covering health and social care settings, includes circumstances such as the management of supply of blood and blood-derived products, services in slimming clinics and family planning services.

The consultation also seeks views on whether flu vaccines should be a requirement for health and care workers. The government's introduction to the consultation states that recent research has shown that people infected with both flu and COVID-19 are more than twice as likely to die as someone with COVID-19 alone, and nearly six times more likely than those with neither flu nor COVID-19. This is the rationale for considering both vaccines within the consultation.

Meanwhile, in the context of mandatory vaccination, it's worth noting that on 9 September judicial review proceedings were issued challenging the mandatory vaccination requirement for care workers (introduced by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021) on five grounds. It is argued that the Regulations are incompatible with laws...