NHS admits some staff have refused Covid vaccine
Ryan Nicolson
NHS Shetland has said some of its staff have refused the coronavirus vaccine.
The health board has advised its staff to get the Covid vaccine “for their own protection and the protection of the people we serve”.
But health workers have a “right to decline” the jab, according to senior occupational health advisor Bernadette Dunne.
Risk assessments will be taken on those who refuse the jab, to see if they are able to continue working with the public.
The NHS did not reveal how many staff had refused the vaccine, saying they “could not provide an exact figure”.
Ms Dunne said the NHS could not force workers to get the vaccine and added it was the “employee’s decision” to accept it or not.
The news comes at a time when the health board is encouraging everyone who is offered the vaccine to accept it.
Full story in today’s Shetland Times newspaper.
Robin Barclay
And what is the point of publishing this story? It hardly encourages others to get the vaccine if it implies informed NHSstaff are refusing. Were these well informed professional NHS workers, or ancillary staff with no biomedical training?
Peter Duffy
Your story does not answer the most obvious question: why have some people refused the vaccine?