Mandatory Covid vaccines? Sajid Javid says they ‘wouldn’t work’ after Boris Johnson calls for ‘national conversation’

Elly Blake9 December 2021

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Thursday he has “no interest” in the idea of mandatory Covid vaccinations for the public.

He said they were ethically wrong and, practically speaking, “wouldn’t work”.

When asked whether the Government was considering mandatory vaccination, Mr Javid said: “No, I’ve got no interest in mandatory vaccination.

“Apart from the high risk settings of the NHS and social care which we’ve already set out we will legislate for,” Mr Javid said.

“Other than that, if you’re talking about universal mandatory vaccination, I think ethically its wrong, but also at a very practical level it just wouldn’t work. Getting vaccinated has to be a positive decision”.

His comments came hours after the Prime Minister suggested it was time to start a “national conversation” about legally requiring everyone to get a jab.

During the Downing Street news conference on Wednesday evening, Mr Johnson said that he did not “want us to have a society where we force people to get vaccinated”.

But he hinted that it was time to have a “national conversation” over the draconian measure of mandatory jabs that some European, including Austria and Greece, are already planning for.

He said: “I think that there is going to come a point, if we can show that the vaccines are capable of holding Omicron – and that is the key thing we need to test – I do think we need to have a national conversation about ways in which we deal with this pandemic.

“I don’t think we can keep going indefinitely with non-pharmaceutical interventions, I mean restrictions on people’s way of life, just because a substantial proportion of the population still sadly has not got vaccinated.”

Public health experts have told the Standard that such measures would be divisive and cause fractions in society.

Professor Reicher, of the University of St Andrews, said mandatory measures such as Covid passes and vaccinations can end up being “counter-productive” and cause so much resistance that it may undermine other efforts to stop the virus from spreading.

He continued: “Even if you apply so much coercion that those who are distrustful do get vaccinated, the danger is that you undermine everything else that they might do.

“They become so anti-authority that they are far less likely to do any of the other things asked of them to keep themselves and others safe.”

Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said she would like to see other measures implemented before more restrictions for the unvaccinated are considered, such as legally mandated mask-wearing in all settings and vaccine passports for indoor venues.

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