Sajid Javid defended the policy of mandatory Covid vaccinations for NHS and social care workers, saying the government 'makes no apology for it'.
But the Department of Health and Social Care has previously insisted the policy was "the right thing to do to protect patients".The government says it will push ahead with dropping the requirement for frontline NHS staff in England to be vaccinated - this will technically require consultation and a change in the law, although with Labour support it looks like a formality.
Higher vaccination take-up, he added, meant that the balance of risks had altered with the need to hold on to staff more of a priority. The groups also said there was concern at the implications for wider messaging to the public about the importance of vaccination. In a joint statement, they said: "They recognise the reasons the government has given for the changes, the risk to services and the different risk from Omicron compared to previous variants.
From the start, care bosses have said that persuasion, not compulsion, is the most effective way to get hesitant staff to be vaccinated. With a similar deadline looming for those supporting people in the own homes, some care companies, had feared they could lose 10% or more of their frontline care workers.
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