Can't be vaccinated. What happens to me re work, travel etc?

[MrsFelicianoLopez]

As the title says really. I am not having the Covid vaccine for medical reasons. Does anybody who works in government know exactly what the proposals are for people like me (I live in England) from September when the domestic Covid passports come in (fingers crossed they don't get through parliament!) please?

i.e. can my employer fire me because I'm not vaccinated? (ref. Grant Shapps today saying that he supports businesses who insist their employees have the vaccine). Will I ever be able to travel anywhere again?! If it's relevant, I have Covid antibodies thanks to having Covid earlier this year. I'm paying for private antibody tests on a monthly basis.

I really don't want this to turn into one of those anti-vaxxer threads .... I am not selfish, but I cannot have any of the vaccines as the risk to me is far far greater than catching Covid (from which I recovered just fine). I just want to know if there is actually a plan in place for those who cannot have the vaccine or whether they have been totally overlooked?

I would ask my MP but as he's Tobias Ellwood I doubt he gives a shit.

Oh, and just for the record - I do not think that anyone who refuses the vaccine is selfish, but that's not what I wanted to focus on. Thank all.

Some sort of medical exemption seems to be inevitable, though nothing seems to be specified yet about who that will apply for. Regardless of what you think of your MP, he is the appropriate person for you to ask to raise this as a question in the House of Commons. You could contact Jonathan Ashworth as well to ask him to take it up.

If you have a medical reason so you’ve been advised against having the vaccine by your GP or consultant, then it’s likely that you’ll get an exemption for the vaccine passports.

TBH I would be getting a letter from my doctor for now saying something like "due to medical needs my patient cannot receive the covid vaccination" and have it ready to hand. Eventually there will be an exemption certificate of some kind if there is a vaccine certificate/passport, but until then I'd just kind of invent my own in case someone like an employer asks for one.

I imagine it'll be down to the requirements of the countries you travel to and their rules on exemptions.

Does the reason you can’t have it fall under the definition of disability for legal reasons? If so it’s a protected characteristic and you should have more protection certainly from an employment point of view - they will have to make reasonable adjustments which may mean working from home, regular tests etc.
For international travel it’s going to depend on the rules in other countries too so that’s more difficult to predict, but I expect they’ll keep up with some combination of tests / quarantine for people arriving from abroad.
It probably depends a bit on if you absolutely can’t have the vaccine, or if for you individually it poses a higher risk than not being vaccinated, but still a fairly low risk in absolute terms. I think there’s going to be a lot of support for the very small first group, but pressure to encourage the second group to be vaccinated.

I would guess that you’ll probably be needing to take tests. LFT tests seem like a reasonable enough compromise, but what you and other people in your position maybe need to lobby for is free PCR tests for travel if they’re required. Otherwise you might find yourself having to pay a two hundred quid additional travel tax for years to come.

I'm sure things will vary wildly depending on which countries you wish to travel to.

I think @PinkDaffodil2 wrote very well- covered all the pertinent points.

Is your condition on the official "list" of reasons not to have it? My blood clotting disease was not in the official UK list so I got a rather snotty call from the GP when I asked for this to be a reason to give me Pfizer instead of AZ (despite worldwide consultants saying this was a reason not to get AZ. I ended up getting Pfizer due to age but hope had I spoken to a consultant they would have arranged for me to have Pfizer). So difficult, if it's allergy based it will probably be easier as Drs seem to understand that more.

I agree it’s not for the UK government to stipulate what other countries will or won’t allow - or if they want you to quarantine or take tests or both.

Your employees may be sympathetic to a degree but how that works in practice remains to be seen

I agree it depends on your destination. It’s nothing to do with the UK govt if, say, Peru mandates that tourists must be vaccinated against whatever disease, not just covid.

For travel, lots of countries require you to prove you’ve had a yellow fever jab before entry, and you can apply for an exemption letter if you can’t have it for medical reasons. I imagine it’ll be the same for covid. Maybe in combination with a negative test.

Work-wise I’m not sure but I guess they’ll have protocol in place for doctors and hep b (although that’s not actually required by law) so maybe will follow that? I’ve had vaccinations required in previous jobs as a condition of travel and I think allowances were made for (legitimate) medical exemptions.

The current plan is to update the covid pass with a special category for those who cannot be medically vaccinated.

At the moment you can legally ‘self declare’ at events and they if they refuse you service you can take them under the ‘equal rights act’.

@Booger123

The current plan is to update the covid pass with a special category for those who cannot be medically vaccinated.

At the moment you can legally ‘self declare’ at events and they if they refuse you service you can take them under the ‘equal rights act’.

What about people who don't have the app?

Ah thanks all. I have no idea if I'm on any "official" list of exemptions - I have had anaphylactic reactions to several different medications and vaccinations, one of which has given me reactive arthritis for the past 25 years, so there's no way I'm risking a vaccine when I've already recovered from Covid.

I will email Tobias and await the inevitable brush-off, and I will contact Jonathan Ashworth. I wasn't aware about exemptions to the yellow fever vaccine - that's one of the ones that I reacted badly to in the past.

Good idea to get a letter from a GP!

Hep B vaccination is a requirement for medical school, and each stage of employment your vaccine / immunity history is checked.
Only about 1 in a million are allergic to HepB vaccine so I don’t think there’s much precedent for doctors not having it. If you don’t have a measurable antibody course they repeat the course of vaccination and monitor closely, plus repeat again if any exposure. I’ve not heard of anyone in the relevant jobs being deemed unable to have the vaccine so not sure how that would play out. Medical schools would take a dim view I imagine as it would be rubbish for everyone involved if you trained for 6 years then we’re unemployable.

@XenoBitch. Would imagine paper. But I think the qualifier for getting an exemption is very high, and it is not going to be easy. As for travel even with an exemption it is going to be an uphill battle as there is no codified list between nations of what constitutes for a medical exemption.

Your workplace will have to balance your medical status against the medical requirements of other staff (who may be CEV, vaccine unlikely to work etc)

But outside health and residential care, there may be very few places where there is genuine occupational need. For the majority, mitigations such as regular LFT testing would probably provide sufficient assurance, though they may require you to SI if you are a confirmed contact (yes I know your antibodies make you a good bet, but it'll almost certainlymfall outside scope of policy)

For international travel, it's hard to tell. It's very likely you'll have to either go through a testing regime or quarantine (even on return to UK)

@MrsFelicianoLopez

Ah thanks all. I have no idea if I'm on any "official" list of exemptions - I have had anaphylactic reactions to several different medications and vaccinations, one of which has given me reactive arthritis for the past 25 years, so there's no way I'm risking a vaccine when I've already recovered from Covid.

I will email Tobias and await the inevitable brush-off, and I will contact Jonathan Ashworth. I wasn't aware about exemptions to the yellow fever vaccine - that's one of the ones that I reacted badly to in the past.

Good idea to get a letter from a GP!

The idea of medical exemption isn't for people to decide for themselves, but that there is a medical reason for the exemption. You'll need to go to your consultant if your condition isn't on any official exemption list, the GP won't be able to do any more than refer you. Prepare yourself that they may advise you to be vaccinated, though potentially with a specific vaccine if you have allergies.

@MRex Yeah I know they may but there's no way I will risk it and it's causing me so much stress and so many sleepless nights. I still suffer flashbacks to being resuscitated by paramedics after the last anaphylactic reaction.

So basically I may well be barred from doing very much if the Covid passport gets voted through.

It will come down to the reason you are being asked eg if it's for domestic sports, theatre etc I suspect they would have an official exemption via the app your consultant can activate, but for international travel it will be up to the country you are entering. AZ they have learned more about the vaccines available there's a chance you'll be able to have one or something not on stream yet - I would suggest asking your consultant/nurse specialist/gp whether the advice not to vaccinate still stands, two people I know that initially were told not to have it have since had Pfizer without incident

@MrsFelicianoLopez no advice but same boat as you, handhold.

Doubt I'm on any official exemption list but prior medical history means I won't be having it regardless.

Hi @MaxNormal I remember you from other threads, how are you?

@MrsFelicianoLopez embarrassed that you have a better memory than me, right now!

I'm okay thanks, just watching and waiting for the moment. Got another appointment with my consultant in September, he wasn't spectacularly helpful about exemption in March simply because he didn't see what I was on about, he clearly had no inkling of any likelihood of domestic passes.

I really wish they'd just decide what the hell they are doing with the whole thing so people like us can start to work out where we stand and what our options are, this feels like the phony war phase and it's doing my head in.