Do employees need to be vaccinated?

They should be. Employers are facing increased pressure to ensure that all employees are vaccinated, to protect the health and safety of their employees, patients, and visitors to a practice.

It has also recently been reported that one vaccine, in particular, helps to reduce onward transmission which would assist in reducing the risk of any infections occurring in the workplace.

Do we need a vaccine policy?

Yes, ideally. It’s not an official requirement but a policy would assist in setting out an employer’s approach to being vaccinated, as mentioned above, and encouraging this on health and safety grounds.

Other benefits include:

• It could refer to the measures an employer has taken to increase health and safety in the practice
• It could supplement other health and safety policies the employer may have in relation to COVID 19
• It could help demonstrate to the CQC that the Practice has an effective immunisation program in place
• As with any policy, it sets out rules and guidance for both employer and employee to follow for vaccines, which is useful to show an employer has taken a reasonable approach

What if the employee refuses to be vaccinated?

Clearly an employer cannot force any employee to be vaccinated against their will, however, an employer can certainly request this of their employees, ultimately for health and safety reasons to protect colleagues and customers.

If an employee steadfastly refuses to be vaccinated without good reason, then an employer can potentially take disciplinary action, but this would be the exception rather than the rule. The employer would first need to understand what the employee’s reasons were for not wanting the vaccine in order to decide whether their refusal was unreasonable.

Tribunals will be keen to see that employers have acted reasonably in the circumstances, taking account of the reason given for employee’s objections and the employer’s explanation as to why the vaccine was strictly necessary at that time. If an employer can demonstrate compelling reasons for requiring the vaccine to be taken, then these would serve as grounds for justification for their actions in taking disciplinary action. Overall careful management is needed in these circumstances.

Author: Robert Maddocks, Senior Associate at Bermans 

Useful:

Clinical guidance document – Patient immunisation [PLUS]

Staff immunisation policy [PLUS]