To point out that mandatory vaccines are completely normal for doctors and nurses and part of their registration

[NeedAHoliday2021]

Yes covid is adding a new one but in healthcare, ALL doctors must have Hep B and various other vaccines to practice. Similarly, midwives must have certain childhood vaccines to protect newborn babies they’ll come into contact with.

COVID adds a new one to the list and is a change as it encompasses non clinical staff but for clinical registered staff, mandated vaccines isn’t a new thing.

I’m pointing this out because I only learned this in the last year and don’t think many non clinical people are aware.

What are you like with your facts !

I work in an administrative role in healthcare and I had to get the Hep B and chicken pox vaccine as a condition of starting my job. It was never presented to me as optional, I just got the date through and the information that I needed to get these vaccinations! I have since argued this with my colleagues who have refused covid jags but it doesn't seem to be sinking in.

@SerendipityJane which fact are you questioning? My information came from a conversation with our medical director who is a paediatric consultant and our head of midwifery. Others joined the conversation who are clinical. I’m not clinical but work in a hospital and these are my work colleagues.

It's true. To work in a hospital with patients (not sure about non-clinical staff) certain vaccines have been compulsory for at least 20 years now.

Hep B and TB were compulsory when I worked for the NHS.

Those other vaccines have been around for years and the long term effects are known. The fact that 90k medical professionals are refusing it speaks volumes about how they feel about it. I think forcing someone to have a medical procedure against their will is horrific.

@vicprice88 yes doctors need chicken pox (or antibodies from having it). I wasn’t sure if that was just in paediatrics or all doctors but the general idea that mandated vaccines is a new thing is wrong but I don’t think many people are aware - I certainly wasn’t, it just hadn’t come up in conversation previously. The midwife I was chatting to had all her vaccines before starting at uni as she couldn’t access the course without having the vaccines and her mum is an anti vaxxer so she’d never had them.

@Sosigsandwich is that 90k medical/clinical/nursing or all patient facing as housekeeping, ward clerks and healthcare assistants etc are all “in scope” so that 90k is unlikely to all be doctors. I can count on one hand the number of doctors choosing not to have it at our hospital.

Mandatory vaccines are completely normal for quite a few jobs - I have to have be vaccinated against tetanus and hep a in my job, and to rabies previously.

This is why I don't understand why healthcare professionals are making a fuss about not wanting it. We had absolutely no choice what so ever about he. B or any of the others and no one batted an eyelid.

My dh used to work at sea and in order to be a seafarer you have to have all of your up to date vaccines and other ones for foreign diseases...end of!! No vaccines...no work.

@Toddlerteaplease I think it’s more because other staff are included who haven’t been previously plus people being outraged on our behalf. I work in healthcare because I want to help people and I love it. I don’t understand the drama. I understand nervousness but by now there’s plenty of peer support and evidence.

@Sosigsandwich

Those other vaccines have been around for years and the long term effects are known. The fact that 90k medical professionals are refusing it speaks volumes about how they feel about it. I think forcing someone to have a medical procedure against their will is horrific.

Not everyone that works in the NHS is a medical professional. Show me the long term data from hep b vaccine...

[quote NeedAHoliday2021]@vicprice88 yes doctors need chicken pox (or antibodies from having it). I wasn’t sure if that was just in paediatrics or all doctors but the general idea that mandated vaccines is a new thing is wrong but I don’t think many people are aware - I certainly wasn’t, it just hadn’t come up in conversation previously. The midwife I was chatting to had all her vaccines before starting at uni as she couldn’t access the course without having the vaccines and her mum is an anti vaxxer so she’d never had them.[/quote]
I'm not even patient facing staff but I didn't see any harm in getting it (and was told I needed it anyway)

I have been saying this for months but everyone who hasn’t worked for the NHS looks at me like I have two heads! I don’t know any clinical staff who have refused the vaccine and I’ve worked with nurses, GP’s, pharmacists and god knows how many other roles.

I’m an admin role so I took advice on it from people who are far more knowledgeable than me with these things and it was a resounding yes to get the vaccine.

I don't get the fuss either. Mandated vaccines are nothing new, especially for health care staff.

Smallpox was mandatory. And it is, to this day, the only disease we have ever completely eradicated. I don't think mandatory vaccination in the NHS is a bad thing.

People have the right to choose, yes but they don't have the right to choose for their patients and colleagues.

@ThisIsNotThePostYourLookingFor absolutely. Our consultants were literally queuing for it as soon as it was available so I took their very educated lead.

Yes OP you're being unreasonable to simply point this out.

If you want people to read and note this information you need to post a FROTHY and GOADY thread about how you CAN'T BELIEVE no-one KNEW THIS... helps if you're fuming about something...

@Sosigsandwich

Those other vaccines have been around for years and the long term effects are known. The fact that 90k medical professionals are refusing it speaks volumes about how they feel about it. I think forcing someone to have a medical procedure against their will is horrific.

The technology that created the covid vaccines has been around for about 10 years. The only 'new' thing was the genetic material from the covid virus itself.

I do get what you are saying, but presumably these staff have had these vaccines already to be in post, so their issue is with the COVID vaccine, not vaccines in general?

So there must be something to do with this particular vaccine that is putting them off. It is most likely a lack of research for a particular ailment they have or wanting to see the long term affects, which is understandable. Can anyone really say the long term affects after 3 years of having the vaccine?

I support vaccination, but I think it should be upto the individual. It is complex and you will never truly know what someone's reasons for not having it are and can't assume people are completely against all vaccinations. You don't know their past experiences or medical history.

@Budapestdreams

It's true. To work in a hospital with patients (not sure about non-clinical staff) certain vaccines have been compulsory for at least 20 years now.

Hep B and TB were compulsory when I worked for the NHS.

It's way more than 20 years!

@InvalidCrumb noted… I’ll work on my composition

Those that refuse typically have a poor understanding of vaccine technology and think they're more intelligent then their peers....

I think serendipityjane meant that posting a thread on mumsnet with factual information isnt really in the spirit of the site. Frothing, complaining and making things up are much more usual. My first thought when I read it was 'get you with your true facts'

Quite a generalisation there @googlemum It's odd someone with such 'detailed' knowledge of the NHS has no understanding of any medical conditions that may impact vaccine refusal. It's almost as though you're coming from a place of 'poor understanding ' whilst thinking you're smarter than your peers. 🤔

I’m a healthcare worker, had all my jabs including my booster and always have my annual flu jab. I don’t agree with compulsory vaccination. Yes we have been required to have hep B and others but this isn’t actually law but hospital policy and GMC requirements. Not a law made by parliament which the covid vaccine mandate is.
For me there is a difference between the hep B and COVID vaccine. Not just how long they’ve been around and the type of vaccines they are. I have had one course of the hep B vaccine and will not need another course for many years. It is highly effective at stopping me getting the infection. The covid vaccination reduces risk but nowhere as close as it was hoped it did. Plus your immunity from it drops off much quicker. It looks like we are going to need annual boosters. It is much more like the flu vaccine which has never been mandatory (yet).
As I said I have had my booster and will again if needed next winter, alongside a flu vaccine but I do think you shouldn’t compare mandatory covid vaccine with hep B when there are differences.