DAUK is backing a petition calling for all NHS healthcare workers to be offered a free Covid booster vaccine this winter.\r\n\r\nThe Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK) is urging NHS staff to sign the petition.\r\n\r\nIt comes amid ongoing waves of Covid cases, increasing numbers of workforce absences, and intensifying winter pressures on the health service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covid vaccine boosters are not being offered to NHS healthcare workers this winter.\r\n\r\nDr Alison George, DAUK GP committee member, said it’s a policy that places staff and patients at unnecessary risk.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t take a petition to prick the collective consciences of NHS England, the Department for Health, and the UK Health Security Agency,” she said. “But here we are.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere is clear evidence Covid is still causing significant acute and chronic health problems.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe know protecting NHS staff reduces nosocomial infections and staff sickness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis improves patient outcomes and limits treatment, operation, and procedure cancellations.\r\n\r\n\u201cBut despite this, the government has chosen to tightly restrict access to free Covid vaccines, including excluding NHS staff.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is such a short-sighted and irresponsible decision and can\u2019t be justified on an individual or NHS level.\r\n\r\n\u201cBuying a vaccine privately costs around \u00a398, which is likely to put most staff off and demonstrates appalling profiteering by companies.\r\n\r\n\u201cAs winter pressures mount, totally predictably, we see Wes Streeting and health leaders so determined not to budge that they\u2019d rather continue with this reckless policy and the avoidable harm it is resulting in, than promptly reverse it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDAUK is in full support of this petition. We urge Mr Streeting to reconsider his decision as a matter of urgency.\u201d\r\n\r\nSign the petition<\/a> calling for all NHS healthcare workers to be offered a free Covid booster vaccine this winter.\r\n\r\nAll of our committee members are volunteers. They speak to the media and campaign on the issues facing doctors in their own time. Please support their work by joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DAUK is backing a petition calling for all NHS healthcare workers to be offered a free Covid booster vaccine this winter. The Doctors\u2019 Association UK…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,29],"tags":[331,107],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","category-protect-the-frontline","tag-covid-19-vaccine","tag-nhs-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}