After leaked discussions emerged from within the Covid O cabinet sub-committee last night, Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted this morning that the government is considering implementing mandatory coronavirus vaccinations for care home staff:

“Yes […] and it’s important because those who look after people in care homes have a duty of care towards them. And not every resident in an elderly care home can be vaccinated.”

While 76% of care home staff (and 90% of residents) have already received a jab, there is “a long way further to go” according to Hancock. The Health Secretary also stressed that no final decision has been taken, though his insistence that mandatory vaccines exist in other areas of the NHS (doctors are required to take the Hepatitis B jab) suggests which way the wind is blowing. There was a time not too long ago when the government was saying compulsory vaccines would be “discriminatory”…