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After a government consultation which was released in September of this year, the health secretary Sajid Javid has announced that vaccinations for Covid 19 will be compulsory for professionals in both general practice and hospital settings from April of next year. However, a flu vaccination is not mandatory.

These rules will not apply to those in community pharmacy because the Care Quality Commission (CQC) only manages services supplied by general practices and hospitals. But it has been said that “90% [of NHS staff] have received at least two doses” already.

Javid said, “We must avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS, protect colleagues in the NHS and, of course, protect the NHS itself. Only those colleagues who can show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can be employed or engaged in those settings.”

There are exceptions to the new regulations; those who are exempt from vaccinating under medical grounds and workers who don’t experience close physical contact with patients will not be expected to uphold the rules.

The Department of Health and Social Care have conducted an analysis of the new regulation and has concluded that over a quarter of a million employees in health and social care will decide to go without a Covid 19 vaccination. This has an estimated cost implication of £162 million to £379 million for recruitment.

According to a study, the segment with the largest quantity of pharmacists without the vaccine was primary care network. 8 of the 42 community pharmacy respondents said they had not had the vaccine either, with anxieties concerning side effects in the long-term. Some even said that they had not been granted time off work to have theirs done.

In October, The RPS (The Royal Pharmaceutical Society) said that the vaccinations should not be compulsory for staff in the healthcare industry. This is because “informed and educated choices about health interventions would be more beneficial long-term than enforcing them.”