Mandatory vaccination will sack thousands of NHS staff

There is a terrible danger that thousands more may follow them.

Open letter against mandatory vaccines

Health workers in the Socialist Workers Party and others have initiated an open letter against mandatory vaccines.

They hope to get hundreds of health service staff, union activists and NHS campaigners to sign it. They hope it will create a group of people that can speak out in favour of vaccines, but against compulsory jabs that threaten jobs.

The letter starts by saying, “This is a difficult issue because, as health workers, we are very much in favour of the vaccine and will continue to speak to and encourage our colleagues and patients to get the vaccine for their own safety and the safety of others.”

And it notes the way the Tories have engineered a crisis in the health service, with staff “exhausted and burnt out after two years of working in emergency conditions”.

There were already over 100,000 NHS vacancies that existed before any mass exodus of staff triggered by the mandate.

The letter also points out that Those who are sceptical of the vaccine “are more likely to be black and other minority ethnicities and in the lower grades of NHS staff.”

It adds, “This scepticism is not irrational—black people in the US, the UK and in the Global South have historically been subjected to utterly unethical experiments for medical science.

“The NHS should take this scepticism head on with meetings and campaigns. 

“We do not want to see our BAME and working class colleagues driven out of the health service,” it says.

The open letter concludes by pointing out that the Tories have “pinned their entire pandemic response on the vaccine and have removed almost all other measures”.

“We call on the Tories to remove the mandate and deadline for the sake of all NHS staff, vaccinated and unvaccinated, as well as its patients,” it says.

“We call on our unions to urgently campaign to put a stop to this mandate and to the potential summary dismissal of thousands of their members,” it continues.

Health workers and campaigners should download the open letter, share it with colleagues and seek to add signatures to it.

There is also a trade union model motion that branches can seek to pass.

Together they can promote discussion and push the health service unions to defend their members and the health service under attack.

Download the open letter from bit.ly/35b5VxA

Download the trade union model motion here