SAJID Javid said plans for mandatory Covid jabs for NHS workers are now “under review”.
The Health Secretary is “reflecting” on the policy, which could see thousands of unjabbed staff sacked as soon as next week.
Speaking to MPs yesterday, Mr Javid said it remained the “professional duty” of NHS staff to get the Covid vaccination.
Currently, around one in 20 have not had their first vaccine — meaning around 77,000 workers are at risk of being redeployed or losing their jobs.
But Mr Javid said the eventual number is likely to be much lower.
He suggested the policy — which requires health workers to have two shots by April — could lead to less than one per cent being affected.
But in a softening on the February 3 deadline for a first jab, he suggested it could now be delayed.
Mr Javid said: “The whole principle is about patient safety.
“When we made this decision that was the principle and we weighed it up.”
He said the main variant at the time was Delta and now it is Omicron, which is “intrinsically less severe”.
He added: “I think it’s right we reflect on all this and keep all Covid policies properly under review because Omicron is different to Delta.”
MPs from all sides, as well as leading medics, have voiced opposition to mandatory jabs for health workers in England.
Many fear it will lead to a staffing crisis while the NHS is already under pressure.
Lib Dem MP Tim Farron said mandatory shots were “utterly illiberal, utterly wrong and a challenge to our freedoms”.
