To the non-vaxxers who work for the NHS- do we have a leg to stand on?

[LMonkey]

So it's looking like vaccines will become mandatory for all NHS workers from April next year...where on earth can we go fro here?
I really dont want to get in to a vaccine debate. I have strong feelings as to why I don't want the vaccine. I'm a med sec and don't see any patients any way, or go anywhere near them. But regardless of this I strongly feel NOBODY should be forced to have any vaccine. Do we have a leg to stand on? I mean it's not lawful to force an employee to have a vaccine but if the government make it compulsory for nhs staff is there any way round it do you think? This really is causing me enormous amounts of stress. I really don't know what to do (please don't anyone say "get the vaccine"). I'd love to hear from others in the same boat or from a legal standpoint.

Although you say you don’t see / get near any patients presumably you work on a hospital site and see the consultants that you work for . Personally I think it’s a reasonable rule and you have a choice .

Apparently us vaccinated are just as contagious as the unvaccinated, though hopefully not as liable to get really sick, so how does my being vaccinated help society?

I am fully vaccinated so obviously I don't have a huge concern about vaccine (I do have some concerns) but I think it is unwise to mandate vaccination. I just worry it will turn more people against the vaccine in the round.

And what will they do with those that cannot for medical reasons have the vaccine.

However on a practical level I suspect you won't have a leg to stand on unless you have a good reason for not getting vaccinated.

I'm really unhappy about this. Stashing is so low as it is. Several of our fully vaccinated staff have caught covid, presumably less serious than they would have been without or they needed booster before it was offered. Our team was vaccinated early in year. The transmission data is also unclear. I had my jabs but don't like the idea of mandatory vaccination.

I suspect that while nhs employed non facing staff will be included that agency employed staff like cleaners who could be far more likely to cause transmission to large numbers will not be covered by new ruling.

@Coyoacan

How horrible all the posts here are. It is not choice when you have to lose your job. I despair of the English and how willingly people give up their freedoms and I say that as someone who is vaccinated

Of course it is a choice.

Choice 1 : You choose not to have the vaccination you don't have a job.

Choice 2: You choose to have the vaccination and keep your job.

You "despair of the English" who are willing to protect other people.

I had to have a range of vaccines for my job over a decade ago. I knew that I had to have them or not do that job.

Noone is forcing you to have it

As a manger this is going to be an absolute PITA. I wonder if they'll grant exemptions on religious grounds?

I don't agree with it.

I despair of the English and how willingly people give up their freedoms and I say that as someone who is vaccinated

Loads of jobs require things like hep B vaccination already- no rights are being lost .

How am I not being forced?? How easy do you think it is to just go out and get another job?? I have kids to look after, a house to pay for.
I've worked my arse off for the NHS for the past 10 years and now I am effectively having a gun held to my head. Not all of us have a partner who can financially support an entire family. Why bother replying if you're going to be so small minded? Ive been feeling really low about this and i actually thought I might hear from some supportive people on mumsnet, but no. You've clicked on this thread to have a go at someone because you aren't capable of seeing it from another person's point of view. I'm done

And I don't understand it when literally no other vaccine is mandatory.

Would it be possible for your job to be done remotely?

Hmmmm... I caught covid from a vaccinated person. And I am vaccinated.

If enough of us are vaccinated, a small minority of (hopefully younger) people who aren't vaccinated will not be an issue to anyone.

Although my family and everyone I know (apart from one person) are vaccinated, I do not think that it is fair to say that you should get vaccinated or get fired. Fine for new employees to have to be vaccinated, but you aren't new - the terms of your employment will need to be changed.

On the other hand, both my dh and db have faced "demands" in their very different jobs to sign new contracts or be fired. In both cases it was about making their pensions worse. So people do get faced with new conditions or told to FO.

Do you love your job?
How difficult would it be to get a new one?
etc

I can't believe the amount of horrid responses you've had here OP.

I totally see where you are coming from but sadly I do think you'll end up having to find another job, my DM is a practice nurse and she will be walking from the job the second the vaccine is made mandatory.

All the best

@LMonkey don't be disheartened by the responses so far.

I completely disagree with the government's decision for care home and NHS staff. So far, they have openly admitted that the (so called) "vaccine" does not stop you catching or transmitting the virus. They are now peddling the "help protect the NHS" line as it allegedly stops you from becoming hospitalised if you do catch it.

Thing is - I caught it, before the vaccine was available. I was NOT hospitalised and I was not, in any way, a burden to the NHS. I simply confined myself to my house for the required period (feeling a bit rough) then returned to work.

I appreciate that I can, possibly, catch it again however I believe the odds of me this happening and me being hospitalised and astronomically tiny. I am relatively young and have absolutely NO health conditions.

If my workplace introduces a "vaccine" mandate I'll be leaving.

Check out the Richie Allen radio show online. He's had some lawyers on discussing how these moves discriminatory.

I think the difference here is that the op has worked for 10 years in her job which is very different to someone being offered a job with the criteria attached.

And yes the responses here are generally quite shocking. We can still have choices over this kind of thing!

Do you think everyone who had the vaccine was utterly unconcerned about having it?

Many continental European countries require children to be fully vaccinated before they start Primary School.

They have to present vaccination cards during matriculation. Otherwise, parents make the choice to homeschool.

Mandated vaccines are hardly something new.

This is a Public Health issue.

Everyone has the freedom to choose not to be vaccinated and choices have consequences. They always do.

@LMonkey, Can you tell us more about your reasons for not having the vaccine?

If you work for the NHS you should ask a doctor or nurse to talk through the reasons they're making the vaccines compulsory, if you don't understand.

You might not be patient-facing but the colleagues you interact with on a daily basis will be.

I don’t think it’s a new concept. I’m in the dental field and we have to be vaccinated against hep b. You are vaccinated as a student and you either get vaccinated or you don’t practice and leave the course.
All practices I have ever worked in, including hospitals, have checked my vaccine record.

@Djifunrsn

And yes the responses here are generally quite shocking. We can still have choices over this kind of thing!

And you can choose not to work for the national health service who have a responsibility for the health of the nation

@IBelieveInAThingCalledScience

"They'll lose 5 good nurses".

Nope. They're not good nurses if they refuse to be vaccinated and are happy to endanger patients in their care.

How are they endangering their patients?

I'm vaccinated but I'm still able to get covid and pass it on!

@donquixotedelamancha

I despair of the English and how willingly people give up their freedoms and I say that as someone who is vaccinated

Loads of jobs require things like hep B vaccination already- no rights are being lost .

I completely agree with the first sentence above. It is staggering how so many posters have piled on to have a go at the OP when in ANY other context on MN, a woman’s right to bodily autonomy is sacrosanct.

The point in the OP is that this rule is being used retrospectively. I’d completely agree that people choosing to start working in the NHS now have no leg to stand on if they expect to be given a job when they refuse to vaccinate. This is different, they’re telling people they have to inject something they didn’t sign up for to keep the job the job they’ve been working at for years and potentially putting their employees at financial risk. I don’t think that’s ok in a fair society.

I’m a med sec. In my job there can be some contact with patients just moving around the hospital.

You do have a choice, you find a new job or get the vaccine. I’d have thought being in the nhs would have given you a reasonable insight into why the vaccine is needed tbh.