A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Irish News has revealed that just 60 per cent of nurses and midwives were vaccinated against Covid by late June. The Irish News carried the disclosure on their front page today.
The figures also evidence that take up of the vaccine by staff within the trust fell behind the wider Northern Ireland population; At the time of the FOI request, 80 per cent of the NI population had received their first vaccine.
Take-up of the vaccine was highest among doctors, with 94% having received their first dose by the 24th of June, while 80 per cent of administration staff were fully vaccinated.
Belfast Trust says the figures are incomplete because some medical staff may have been vaccinated elsewhere, although it cannot provide any numbers.
Figures disclosed in the FOI request provide a breakdown of vaccine uptake across professional groups since last December – when frontline NHS workers were among the first group to be offered the Pfizer jab on the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) site – and June 26, when the RVH vaccination centre no longer jabbed “staff only” and opened its doors to the public.
The figures show that overall, 73 per cent of trust staff – equating to 15,963 workers – received their first Covid jab while 70 per cent had both doses by late June. It was in June when the more contagious Delta variant emerged, with half of the north’s Covid cases linked to the new strain.
Vaccine uptake among eight professional groups in the trust was recorded (including social workers, estate workers and Allied Health Professionals such as radiographers and speech therapists). Of the eight groups, uptake was lowest among nurses and midwives, with just 62 per cent having had their first jab and only 60 per cent double-jabbed.
In its response to the paper’s FOI request, the Belfast trust said that the figures do not take into account bank staff or those who received their jab at other sites “like SSE arena, centres close to their homes, GP surgeries or at local pharmacies”.
“It does not include those staff who attended for vaccination after 24/06/21. Therefore, the actual number of staff vaccinated is higher than the figures quoted,” they state.
However, speaking to The Irish News, Northern Irish public health physician and former regional director of public health (RDPH) for the south west of England, Professor Gabriel Scally, said that the Belfast trust “should know” the total number of employees jabbed.
Professor Scally pointed out the “shockingly wide” differences in take-up rates across staff groups and said he supported mandatory vaccination of frontline workers. It is a move currently being considered in England but one which has been met with significant backlash.
“The variation in the uptake of vaccine between the Belfast trust’s professional groups is extremely worrying,” he said. “The trust should know exactly what proportion of professionals working in their hospitals are vaccinated. On the evidence that they’ve presented, it’s really not good enough.”
He added: “I support mandatory vaccination for the frontline. It’s the only way to keep patients and staff safe because staff are in a vulnerable position as well if they’re dealing with Covid patients and others in their family be exposed as a result.”
However, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) trade union last night said it was opposed to mandatory vaccination for its members. It did, however, encourage “all nursing staff” to get jabbed.
Rita Devlin, RCN Northern Ireland Acting Director, said: “We believe that making the vaccine easily available is the best way to increase uptake. It is inherent within the Nursing and Midwifery Council code that nursing staff take measures to protect their patients and the public against serious illness as a professional responsibility.
“Health and care staff must be supported to make an informed choice about taking the vaccine,” she added.
When asked to give a comment on uptake concerns, the Department of Health said all healthcare workers “have a personal and professional duty to act to protect those to whom they are providing care and should act now to make arrangements to get vaccinated”.
A spokesman said: “The Department notes that these are incomplete figures and will not have captured the full details of staff vaccination.
“We would make the same appeal to staff who are not yet vaccinated as we do to the general public – please do not delay getting your jab any longer.
“The benefits of vaccination are very clear, not least in weakening the link between Covid infection and hospitalisation. Getting our Covid vaccine is the single most important thing each of us can do to help our health service get through this winter.”
While some on social media blasted the revelation as “absolutely disgraceful”, there was also support for those who had chosen not to take the vaccine.
“So we are now going to blame front line medical staff for the spread of the virus because only 60% were vaccinated?? Yesterday’s heroes…Today’s villains? Another smoke screen,” one person wrote under the article on Facebook.
Others argued that many frontline staff many already have “natural immunity” to Covid-19, having recovered from the virus, arguing that antibody testing should be commissioned as opposed to “pushing a commercial product which is much weaker than natural immunity”.
“From clapping to criticism! So much for living in a democracy!” another person added.