Reply To: Care home staff resist the vaccine; their bosses want to force them to have it


Latest News Forums Discussion Forum Care home staff resist the vaccine; their bosses want to force them to have it Reply To: Care home staff resist the vaccine; their bosses want to force them to have it

#65364
ET
Guest

I don’t necessarily agree with all of what N_ says in his post but some of it isn’t far from the truth. I have also read that in Ohio 60% of care home employees were refusing vaccination.
I don’t think employers will ever be able to force vaccinations on employees but it may get to a point where they can fire them for refusal or remove them from duties that require resident (or patient) contact. Say for instance there is an outbreak of flu in a care home traced to some employees who hadn’t had the flu vaccine, is anyone liable and if so is it the employee or the care home?
The flu vaccine is offered to all NHS staff. I wonder how long before the GMC and NMC and other professional bodies make it unethical not to have it which would effectively make it mandatory for doctors and nurses, radiographers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, paramedics and almost by inference everyone else who has patient contact including porters, care assistants and well everyone working in health care to be honest. The liability issue also arises. If someone is genuinely allergic to the flu vaccine and can’t have it where does that leave to employer in terms of liability? What if they catch flu from a patient. Not a big issue for most but some will get severely ill. I suspect the legal issues will force the issue to the forefront in the next few years.