A letter from Dr. Paddy Hannigan, Dr. Richard Harling, and Dr. Paul Edmondson-Jones:
From 11 November 2021, anyone working, deployed, or volunteering in a care home must, by law, be fully vaccinated against coronavirus SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19), unless exempt.
Those who need to be fully vaccinated (1st and 2nd dose) include:
- Care home staff.
- Volunteers working in care homes.
- Professionals entering care homes – including general practitioners, community NHS staff, hairdressers, and beauticians.
- Undertakers’ and funeral directors’ staff entering care homes.
- Ambulance transport staff (i.e., home to hospital transport staff) entering care homes.
The law does not apply to:
- Emergency services staff or those providing emergency assistance.
- Tradespeople carrying out urgent repair work.
- Anyone visiting friends, family, or essential caregivers – although if they are not fully vaccinated, they may be subject to additional infection, prevention, and control measures.
- Any employees or volunteers who are exempt under the regulations.
More details can be found at Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination of people working or deployed in care homes: operational guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Vaccinations can be booked online through the National Booking Service, by ringing 119, or visiting a walk-in clinic. You can find details of walk-in clinics here.
Care homes will require visiting professionals to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination using the NHS app.
Some employees or volunteers may be unable to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for medical reasons – for example:
- people receiving end-of-life care where vaccination is not in their best interests,
- people with learning disabilities or autistic individuals, or those with a combination of impairment where vaccinations cannot be provided through reasonable adjustments,
- people with severe allergies to all currently available vaccines and,
- people who have had an adverse reaction to the first dose (for example, myocarditis).
Until 24 December 2021 people can apply for an exemption from the regulations if they have medical contraindications to vaccination.
More details can be found here and people should call 119 to apply for an exemption.
Once an exemption has been obtained, visiting professionals to care homes will need to show proof of this using the NHS app.
Thank you to all your staff for their phenomenal efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yours sincerely,
