Coronavirus in Scotland: NHS staff will not be obliged to take Covid-19 vaccine

NHS staff will not be obliged to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed, regardless of whether or not they work in contact with vulnerable people.

Lead research nurse Vash Deelchand gives a demonstration of the vaccine trial process.

The rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine will begin in Scotland from Tuesday December 8, after the candidate from Pfizer and BioNTech was approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The order in which people will receive the shot has been set out by the UK-wide Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, with older care home residents and their carers at the top of the list, followed by all those over 80 and frontline health and social care workers.

But due to the logistical difficulty of administering the Pfizer vaccine it has been suggested by public health officials that health and social care workers may be brought to the front of the queue, as they can be easily vaccinated at hospitals.

Ms Sturgeon said at the coronavirus daily briefing on Wednesday that it is not yet known whether or not this will be the case, and that the Scottish Government was still in discussions to determine the order of vaccination priority.

Asked if health and social care workers will be required to take the vaccine, and whether they would continue to work with vulnerable patients if they did not, Ms Sturgeon said: "The vaccine will not be compulsory [...] but the strong advice to everybody and perhaps within that particularly to health and social care workers would be to get vaccinated.”

Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith added that there would be a meeting of chief medical officers from around the UK to work out which health and social care workers would be in greater priority within the general group.

"The UK CMOs will meet later today to discuss in greater detail how we begin to prioritise health and social care workers within that cohort, to make sure that those who will benefit most from the direct protection that this vaccine will offer them will be in the earliest of stages."

He added: “We also want to make sure that people who work in care homes get access to the early stages of vaccinations as well.”

Ms Sturgeon said that at this stage vaccination will not be compulsory, and there will be no sanctions for those who choose not to receive it.

"For a whole host of practical and [ethical] reasons vaccination has traditionally been something that is voluntary not compulsory,” she said.

"That shouldn't be taken as to only get it if you want. We’ve put everything we've got into persuading everybody to get this vaccine as soon as they become eligible.

"We keep everything under review in terms of our handling of this, but that’s the position at the moment.”

Dr Smith added: “It’s really important that we come to a shared consent model of why people get the vaccine, I’m not a fan of compulsory vaccination I have to say.

“I think with the right education explained in the right way, the case for receiving this vaccine both in terms of its effectiveness and its safety profile is overwhelming.”

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