Sajid Javid says 77,000 NHS workers remain unvaccinated against coronavirus

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said around 77,000 NHS workers remain unvaccinated against coronavirus.

He said it is the “professional duty of every NHS worker to get vaccinated”.

Mr Javid told the Health and Social Care Committee: “Even before the mandate, the vast, vast majority had. Since the mandate, since we announced a consultation in September, we’ve had around 100,000 in the NHS that were unvaccinated at that point that have come forward. So there’s been a very good response.

“I think now it’s almost 95% of NHS workers that have had at least one jab. The latest numbers I have is that around 77,000 that have not. That is improving every day. Not all 77,000 are in scope because to be in scope is if it’s a patient-facing role, but the majority of those people would be in scope.

“I think it’s also reasonable to assume that not everyone ultimately is going to come forward.”

He said the NHS is asking trusts to set out the estimations for the staff who “will ultimately just not come forward, and then to break down what kind of roles they are and see how they would manage that”.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he will be setting out a plan by spring on how the Government thinks the country can “learn to live with Covid”.

He told the Health and Social Care Committee that vaccines, treatments such as antivirals, and testing will be “top of the list”.

Mr Javid said: “We’ve got to find a way to live with it (Covid) in the same way, let’s say, we live with flu, you know, and I’m not for a second sort of saying it’s like flu, you know, look at sadly all the deaths we’ve had from Covid – over 150,000 from the start.

“It’s about understanding we do now have defences which we didn’t have before and just as sort of flu doesn’t stop society and stop life, we mustn’t let Covid do that anymore.”