The UK’s vaccination programme has been vital to helping us recover from the Covid 19 pandemic.

Multiple pharmaceutical companies in partnership with others and funded largely by Governments quickly researched, developed, approved and began to manufacture the vaccine.

Reports suggest as much as 97 per cent of the funds used for the Oxford/ Astrazeneca vaccine came from charitable trusts and tax payers, showing just how quick medicines can be developed when needed.

The successful vaccine delivery program delivered by the NHS began in December 2020, less than 12 months after being in total lockdown.

Since then more than 100 million doses of the vaccine have been administered across the UK, with over 70 per cent of the population fully vaccinated.

The Government planned to make vaccines mandatory from April in some sectors. Health and social care workers in the NHS and private organisations face the sack if they have not been fully vaccinated by the suggested deadline.

In the NHS alone an estimated 86,000 staff have not been fully vaccinated.

If these plans for mandatory vaccines go ahead, it would push an already understaffed NHS over the edge.

The Royal College of Nursing has called for the deadline to be delayed, due to worries about the staff shortages that would inevitably follow.

Other organisations representing NHS workers, such as trade unions oppose mandatory vaccines, but there is widespread support for doing all that is possible to encourage vaccination.

With 95 per cent of NHS workers already vaccinated, is threatening the sack really the answer to persuading the rest. It should of course be a personal choice, with many having very legitimate reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated. Cultural and health reasons for example.

The vaccine does not stop people from getting the virus, nor is it a replacement for protective equipment and other measures to limit the spread.

Not only those working in health and social care are facing penalties for being unvaccinated.

Several companies, including Ikea, have announced that workers who are unvaccinated would no longer be eligible for company sick pay, instead only receiving measly statutory sick pay, should they need to take time off because of covid.

Some employers are even implementing ‘no jab, no job’ policies when recruiting. Those who may be sceptical about the jab or have concerns about side effects, should be properly informed about the benefits and risks instead of being financially penalised, or in some cases forced out of a job.

While there was a U-turn on proposals to bring in mandatory vaccines for NHS staff in April, concerns should still be raised when other workers are still facing cuts to sick pay because they are unvaccinated.

Everybody should be encouraged to be fully vaccinated and where hesitancy does exist, let’s educate on the benefits of vaccination instead.

If employers are able to offer better employment conditions to those with the vaccine, how long before they begin to do the same thing with people who have other health conditions?