{"id":28428,"date":"2021-04-15T15:47:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28428"},"modified":"2021-04-15T15:47:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:47:06","slug":"unite-urges-govt-to-be-careful-over-compulsory-vacs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28428","title":{"rendered":"Unite urges govt to be careful over compulsory vacs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has urged the government to carefully examine the pitfalls, as well as the advantages, of requiring care home staff to be compulsorily vaccinated for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Unite voiced its concerns\u00c2\u00a0following the announcement yesterday<\/a> (Wednesday April 14) that the government is consulting on the requirement that all staff working in care homes in England with residents over 65 be vaccinated against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is an area of great sensitivity, with certain aspects causing concern for our members in this sector,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite national health and safety adviser Rob Miguel.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is promoting uptake of the vaccine when offered, however this has to be on the basis of consent, which has proved effective in the past. The UK does not generally mandate medical treatment and the union agrees with this position, as well as the recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO)\u00c2\u00a0that the decision whether or not to have the vaccine remain\u00c2\u00a0voluntary.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe voluntary route has been hugely successful in ensuring that a high percentage of those eligible for vaccination in the UK have had the jab, with\u00c2\u00a0over 30 million having\u00c2\u00a0already received at least one dose. There is a danger that any move towards compulsory vaccinations\u00c2\u00a0may\u00c2\u00a0undermine public support for the programme.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhilst individuals have an absolute right to choose whether to have the vaccine, Unite is aware that employers could be deemed to act reasonably in certain situations, such as caring for the elderly, to push for employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. Should this proposal take fruition we have no doubt case law will develop in this area.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, there will be a wide range of reasons why an employee would not be able to have the vaccine such as disability\/medical reasons, pregnancy, race or religion, therefore any blanket policy to make vaccination compulsory will be discriminatory in many cases.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAffected workers must be given advice, information and support to ensure that any issues or concerns are resolved. For workers who are not able to have the vaccine, other options,\u00c2\u00a0such as frequent workplace testing, must be fully considered and utilised. We strongly believe that other options must be made available.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will fully support any of its members whose employment is threatened because they are unable or choose not to be vaccinated,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 concluded Miguel.<\/p>\n

By Barckley Sumner <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has urged the government to carefully examine the pitfalls, as well as the advantages, of requiring care home staff to be compulsorily vaccinated for Covid-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[1379,44,969],"wps_subtitle":" Vaccinations for care home staff must be thought through carefully and handled sensitively","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28428"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28430,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28428\/revisions\/28430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}