England is set to revoke COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare and home care workers on the condition of consultation and parliamentary approval.
The announcement comes just three days before the deadline requiring that U.K. National Health Service and other healthcare workers show proof of vaccination or risk termination.
The U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Care announced the deadline will not apply while the government performs a two-week consultation looking into the policy.
“The government has re-examined the policy as it considers how best to achieve public health and safety with the minimum number of restrictions or requirements on people’s lives,” the announcement stated. “The balance of opportunities and risks of the policy have now changed with the dominance of Omicron.”
Health Secretary Sajid Javid stated that the mandates were the right policy at the time and remain to be in retrospect.
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“The government makes no apology for it,” Javid said. “It is not only right but responsible to revisit the balance of risks and opportunities that guided our original decision last year. While vaccination remains our very best line of defense against COVID-19, I believe that it is no longer proportionate to require vaccination as a condition of deployment through statute.”
Following the consultation period, a motion to approve the policy must be presented to Parliament.
“While the legal requirement on deployment is set to be revoked, those working in health and social care still have a professional duty to get vaccinated,” the announcement stated.
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As of Jan. 23, NHS weekly data show about 5% of the U.K.’s NHS staff and 18% of social workers had not been vaccinated.
