CARE home workers will be required to have mandatory coronavirus vaccinations, the Government is to reveal imminently.

Health secretary Matt Hancock is known to be in favour of the move, while England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, has said doctors and care workers have a “professional responsibility” to protect their patients.

Ministers will announce the move in the coming days, the PA news agency has been told, after a consultation was carried out into using staff vaccination in England to protect the most vulnerable from Covid-19. A consultation will also begin on whether other health and care workers should also have the jabs.

It comes as 15 per cent of care staff in Bolton had not taken up the jab by June 6 - despite being in the priority group for receiving it.

Of the eligible care home staff in the borough, including agency workers, 1638 out of 1926 have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

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A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Vaccines are our way out of this pandemic and have already saved thousands of lives – with millions of health and care staff vaccinated.

"Our priority is to make sure people in care homes are protected and we launched the consultation to get views on whether and how the Government might take forward a new requirement for adult care home providers, looking after older people, to only deploy staff who have had a Covid-19 vaccination or have an appropriate exemption."

The decision, first reported by the Guardian, is controversial, with the GMB union saying that more than a third of carers would consider leaving their jobs if vaccinations become compulsory.

Read more: One more coronavirus death at Bolton hospital as cases fall

GMB national officer Rachel Harrison said: “Carers have been at the forefront of this pandemic, risking their lives to keep our loved ones safe, often enduring almost Victorian working standards in the process.

“The Government could do a lot to help them: address their pay, terms and conditions, increasing the rate of and access to contractual sick pay, banning zero hours, and ensuring more mobile NHS vaccination teams so those working night shifts can get the jab.

“Instead, ministers are ploughing ahead with plans to strongarm care workers into taking the vaccine without taking seriously the massive blocks these workers still face in getting jabbed.”

The UK’s human rights watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has however concluded it is “reasonable” to legally require care home staff to be vaccinated.

But it did advise that safeguards should be included to minimise the risk of discrimination by including exemptions including for staff who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, said he fears people will be put off entering the social care sector.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he is in favour of “persuasion rather than coercion or compulsion”, adding: “What I’m worried about is the recruitment crisis already in social care, is that we’re frightened that this is going to put more people off coming into social care and that’s going to be difficult.

“I’m also worried about any legal action against providers, because if you’ve only got 16 weeks and you lose your job, where does that put people? We’re already short of staff.”

Read more: Hospitality industry on a ‘knife-edge’ in Bolton

But the director of public health for Gateshead, Alice Wiseman, told Times Radio she is in favour, saying: “This is a really difficult decision because nobody ever wants to take away an individual’s right to have that choice.

“But we do make some vaccines mandatory in other aspects of healthcare. So, for example, we ensure all surgeons have their Hep B vaccination, and it’s really important that we do this where we’re protecting those people who we are caring for.

“And certainly, if I had my mum in a care home, I would want to know that the staff around them were fully protected and able to provide my mum with the best care that she could have.

“So, whilst I appreciate that it’s very difficult as a decision, I am grateful that we are looking at that.”

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