Vaccine uptake low among NHS and social care staff

Vaccine uptake remains low among health and social care workers, new figures have revealed.

Public Health Scotland statistics show only 39% of health staff and 20% of social care staff workers have had their winter Covid booster.

Scotland's national clinical director attributed the low vaccine take-up to people having "busy lives".

Anyone aged 50 and over is being invited to book appointments for boosters alongside flu vaccines.

The Public Health Scotland statistics indicate higher numbers of no-shows are also being reported at vaccine clinics.

As of 23 October, a total of 1,041,400 people were vaccinated against Covid as part of the Winter 2022 vaccination programme.

Of that number 94% were vaccinated for flu at the same appointment.

For many people this will be their fourth or even fifth Covid vaccine and some health professionals believe that the virus is considered a less immediate threat.

Since the vaccination programme was launched in December 2020 figures show 97% of healthcare workers and 93% of social care workers have had their first dose.

Angela Feeney, team leader at the Ravenscraig Vaccination Centre in Motherwell said: "I think the whole country is Covid fatigued but it is very important for the residents of Lanarkshire to come and get their vaccine.

"We have noticed that there has been a drop off of patients not turning up, around 23%, which is very concerning because people are thinking that Covid is away.

"Covid is certainly not away, our hospitals are busy, there are patients in the hospitals with Covid so it is still very much around and in our community at the moment."

In the week ending 23 October, there were on average 874 patients in hospital with the virus, a slight decrease from the previous week, according to the National Records of Scotland.

The Office for National Statistics Covid infection survey estimates an average of 144,400 people were infected on any given day in the week up to 10 October - that's about one in 35 people.

Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, told BBC Scotland he didn't think there was vaccine fatigue but highlighted frustration with getting appointments and having to travel.

He said: "Health and social care workers is a special group, we are trying to make it as easy as we can for them. "It's a challenge every year with getting that flu vaccine number up, I'm confident we'll get there, we just need to make it as simple as we possibly can for them."

Prof Leitch said the vaccine had been a game changer.

He added: "You won't find a health and social care worker in Scotland who doesn't think this vaccine has changed their workload because they're seeing it in the real people who are coming into the emergency departments, into the intensive care units, they're not as sick.

"The only reason you're able to go to the movies and have your family around for dinner is the vaccine.

"The vaccine has done this, had allowed us to get back to nearly normal lives so I'm confident the health and social care workers will come."

Unison representative Mary Madden, who has worked in social care for more than 20 years, said the reduced vaccine uptake among care workers was due to inconvenience and time pressures.

She said: "Your time is precious when you are off and you are expected to go and get a booster, you are to make the arrangements, it is not always a convenient thing to do, you have to make your own way and it is very necessary to have the protection to safeguard our service users.

"It is always very difficult for project managers to leave if they are in the middle of a shift because we have such low staff. "

It is no surprise that there is general vaccine fatigue as this year's campaign is scaled up. Life seems pretty normal. No threat of restrictions, compulsion to wear masks, no need to prove vaccine status in many popular tourist destinations.

For many people, navigating an online booking system, perhaps having to travel further or face feeling lousy the next day is not appealing. And some people may believe they have had Covid recently so don't need that additional boost to the immune system.

When it comes to health and social care workers - historically vaccine uptake for things like flu has been lower than officials would desire. It can come down to things like not wanting to take time away from patients when staffing is already tight, or worrying about taking unpaid time off work.

There is a frustration from unions that more is not being done to make it easier, the government and health boards say they are working to make it as convenient as possible.

But there are real concerns that with hospitals already working at capacity, even a small surge in demand for beds this winter will have a long-lasting impact on the level of care that the NHS can provide.