Sector leaders raise fears over double covid jabs mandate as deadline looms

BEFORE

Tens of thousands of care home staff have not been fully vaccinated against coronavirus and are set to lose their jobs next week, latest figures suggest.

Around 89.4% of staff working in older age care homes had received two vaccine doses as of October 31, according to data from NHS England.

The remaining 49,040 staff - around one in 10 of the total - had not been recorded as having received two doses at this point.

The equivalent figure for staff in care homes for under-65s is 13.6% - 11,924 staff.

This suggests a total of 60,964 staff have not had a second jab or their second jab has not been reported as of the end of October.

The total includes staff who cannot be vaccinated for valid medical reasons and those whose vaccination status is unknown, while there may also be a time lag in some vaccinations being reported.

There is no published data on how many staff have self-certified as exempt or have applied for official proof but it is understood that this is around several thousand staff.

The Government has made it mandatory for staff in registered care homes in England to have both jabs as a condition of deployment, unless they are exempt for valid medical reasons.

From next Thursday, it will be a legal requirement for staff who are not exempt to be doubly vaccinated if they are to continue in their role.

The regulations also cover any worker, including NHS staff, tradespeople and inspectors, who needs to enter a care home as part of their employment.

But residents and their visitors, or people who need to enter the residence to provide emergency assistance or urgent maintenance, or under-18s will not need to show proof of vaccination.

Sector leaders fear an exodus of care staff which they warn will threaten safe care.

AFTER

Health leaders raise fears as covid jab mandate looms

Up to 10% of care home workers could lose their jobs next week as the government introduces a new vaccine mandate and sector leaders warn an exodus will threaten safe care.

New figures suggest tens of thousands of care home staffers have not been doubly vaccinated against coronavirus and could be made redundant in the coming days.

Around 10.6% of staff working in older age care homes have not received two vaccine doses as of October 31, according to data from NHS England. Conversely, nine in ten of the total workers in care homes for over 65s have been recorded as having received two doses at this point.

In care homes for under 65s, the equivalent figure of workers who have received

their double dose is 86.4%. This means just over 60,000 care home staff have not had a second jab or their second jab has not been reported as of the end of October.

The Government has made it mandatory for staff in registered care homes to have both jabs as a condition of deployment unless they are exempt for valid medical reasons.

From next Thursday, it will be a legal requirement for staff if they are to continue in their role. The regulations also cover all workers who needs to enter a care home as part of their employment

But residents and their visitors or people who need to enter the residence to provide emergency assistance or urgent maintenance, or under-18s will not need to show proof of vaccination.

What I did

I edited the length of the news to encourage quick reading. I used approximation to eliminate complex numbers that could discourage readers in order to make the story easy to understand. I tried to explain some of the data in words rather than percentages. I added the number of people in older care homes and under 65s who had not received the jab together in order to make the story coherent rather than disjointed and eliminated the percentage in order not to bother the reader with too many numbers and percentages. To make the story picturesque rather than using percentages, I used simple words like nine out of 10.