Wales urged to follow England and make Covid jabs mandatory for Welsh care workers

The chair of Care Forum Wales, which represents care homes in Wales, has called on the Welsh government to follow the decision made by England and make the Covid vaccine mandatory for all its care home workers.

The Welsh Government currently has no plans to make Covid jabs compulsory for care home staff, with a spokesperson, saying: "Protecting our most vulnerable people in care homes is at the heart of our response to the pandemic and vaccine strategy.

"While Covid vaccination rates are at such high levels in this group – and in other priority groups and age groups – in Wales we do not see the need at this time to introduce compulsory measures."

The take up of the Covid vaccine is much higher in Wales than England, with 92 per cent of care home workers having had their first dose and as many as 98 per cent of care home residents having had the vaccine. Eighty-six per cent of care home staff and 94 per cent of residents have had two doses.

In England, nearly 84 per cent of care workers have received their first dose but in some London boroughs, the take-up has been much lower, with over 30 per cent refusing the vaccine so far. Ninety-four per cent of residents have had their first dose.

From October, all care home staff in England will have four months to get two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, unless they are medically exempt. The new law will also apply to anyone else coming to the care home in a work capacity, such as healthcare workers, tradespeople, hairdressers and beauticians, and CQC (Care Quality Commission) inspectors.

Mario Kreft, who himself owns six care homes in Wrexham, and is the chair of Care Forum Wales, wants the Welsh government to take a stronger line and insist that people working in care homes should have the jab unless they have a medical or religious reason not to.

Some care homes in Wales have already made vaccination a condition of employment for new employees.

Mario Kreft said: “We have been concerned about this issue for some time and have been pressing the case with the Welsh Government because an overwhelming number of our members want this to happen.

“The roll out of the vaccine has been a huge success but it would be a big mistake to think we are out of the woods just yet.The emergence of the new Delta variant which is so much more transmissible than previous strains had added real urgency to this matter.”

He added: “In truth, the numbers in Wales are much better than in England and the Welsh Government must take credit for that.

“But this variant and any other mutant strains that might follow are posing a real risk to the health and well being of our residents, the majority of whom are elderly and vulnerable.

“I think everybody who works in social care should, unless there's a very good medical or religious reason otherwise, get the jab and importantly be ready for a culture where we might have to have this each year for some years to come.”

Mr Kreft wants care home workers to “to be thinking of other people, not just ourselves – rather than potentially putting residents, colleagues and possibly members of our own families at risk”.

He said: “Care Forum was ahead of the curve at the beginning of the pandemic in calling on care homes to lock down long before this was required by the Welsh and UK governments.

“We believe we now need to be proactive again so that we can continue to protect our residents and staff from this dreadful virus.”

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