Andrew Rosindell M.P. for Romford has today welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement that we will be reverting back to Plan A but set out his opposition to mandatory vaccination for NHS workers saying that the plans are “discriminatory” and “unfair”.
On 6 January 2022, Parliament voted to amend the Health and Social Care Act to extend the scope of mandatory vaccination requirements for staff beyond registered care homes to health and wider social care settings in England.
Andrew Rosindell M.P. said:
“This afternoon the Prime Minister confirmed we will not be required to show our vaccine status as a condition of entry in some venues, as we return to ‘Plan A’, so I can therefore see no justification for vaccine status to be required as a condition of employment, no matter what the job is.
I think there are so many great things we can do with the policy agenda now, we need to reopen the economy and make full use of the benefits brought to us by Brexit.
I am delighted that the Prime Minister also suggested that the emergency powers, which are due to expire in March, will not be renewed so we can fully focus on our economic recovery, getting on with the people’s priorities and delivering the wishes of the great British electorate.
Mandatory vaccination status for domestic purposes, in any setting, is illiberal, discriminatory and goes against our country’s basic freedoms.
At a time when the NHS and social care is short-staffed, it is paramount we not only keep those already working in the health and social care sectors but that we also encourage new people to join them.
The British Medical Journal, in December, even stated that ‘evidence does not justify mandatory vaccines’ and ‘that everyone should have the right to informed choice.’
Therefore, I simply cannot support this ludicrous policy, if the Government are ‘following the science’ then the science is overwhelmingly leaning against mandatory vaccination, no matter what setting, whether that be working in the NHS or visiting a nightclub.”
