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Found 452 results
  1. News Article
    People who are vaccinated are less likely to develop Long Covid even if they catch the virus, a rapid review by the UK Health Security Agency reveals. It looked at the available evidence to date from 15 studies around the world. The findings suggest that while some who are jabbed catch Covid, vaccines reduce infection risk and illness, including symptoms like fatigue. And unvaccinated people who catch Covid and get symptoms of Long Covid, do better if they then get vaccinated. Vaccine effectiveness against most Long-Covid symptoms was highest in people aged 60 years and over In people who already had Long Covid symptoms, it found that vaccines may improve rather than worsen Covid symptoms, either immediately or over several weeks According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), around 2% of the UK population have reported symptoms of Long Covid, such as fatigue, shortness of breath and muscle or joint pain. Symptoms like these can last for more than four weeks after the infection. Read full story Source: 15 February 2022
  2. News Article
    Scientists and politicians “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people” by damaging the reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to an Oxford scientist who worked on the jab. Prof John Bell said: “They have damaged the reputation of the vaccine in a way that echoes around the rest of the world.” “I think bad behaviour from scientists and from politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people – and that they cannot be proud of that,” he told a BBC Two documentary When the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab was rolled out in the UK government advisers recommended under-40s should be offered an alternative due to a link to very rare blood clots. Fears over the links to blood clots also led other countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Iceland and Thailand, to pause their use of the vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine has also not played a significant role in the booster programme. The BBC reported it accounted for only 48,000 of the more than 37m booster doses given in the UK. Read full story Source: Guardian, 7 February 2022
  3. News Article
    ‘We’ve broken the social contract between the NHS and its people’. That was the blunt conclusion of one senior NHS figure surveying the aftermath of the government’s U-turn on the mandatory vaccination of staff. Most of the NHS’ leadership at national and local level were behind the policy of mandatory vaccination. They believed it was the right thing to do for patients, colleagues and the service. But they were also acutely aware of the reluctance of some staff to get the jab and that changing their minds would be tough – and in some cases unsuccessful. They were also prepared to deal with the consequences of the failure to convert the waverers. They put their credibility and reputations on the line to give the vaccination push as much chance of success as possible. They found time to have and facilitate difficult conversations, even though those discussions were bound to impact on morale at a time of huge pressure. …and then the government pulled the rug from under them. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 February 2022
  4. News Article
    The proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes who have had recommended health checks has fallen substantially, provisional data from 2021 suggests, as have the numbers hitting key disease control targets. In response, primary care experts have called for GP practices to receive targeted investment to focus on the checks, which they had to deprioritise as the vaccination programme was introduced. There are now 3.24 million people with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in England, the data across all GP practices shows. National Diabetes Audit figures for England from January to September 2021 showed that: 74% of patients had received a HbA1c check and 70% a blood pressure check compared with 93% and 95% respectively in 2019/20. In the first nine months of last year, 61.9% of patients had an HbA1c under 58 mmol/mol, compared with around 66% in previous years. The proportion of patients with blood pressure targets of under 140/80 was 66.5% in the latest figures compared with around 73-74% during 2015 to 2020. Speaking with Pulse, Professor Partha Kar, NHS England national specialty advisor for diabetes said while this was not the final data, a drop off had been expected for a range of reasons outside GPs control. ‘What we have seen is that there was a massive drop off in wave one. Then around the middle of 2020 it started to pick up again but then it’s dropping off again so irrespective of data cleaning, I suspect you will see a massive drop off compared to where things have been over the last four or five years. ‘We need to be very clear its not because anyone was twiddling their thumbs, it’s because primary care was asked to do something else. ‘We can’t go back to primary care again for the vaccines because they are being taken away from the thing that they’re amazing at which is delivering long-term conditions at scale.’ Read full story Source: Pulse, 2 February 2022
  5. News Article
    Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday that they were seeking emergency-use authorisation for the first coronavirus vaccine for children younger than 5 in the US and have begun submitting data on the safety and efficacy of the first two doses of a planned three-dose regimen. The Food and Drug Administration asked the companies to apply for authorization of their vaccine, and in an email, FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Caccomo said the omicron surge had generated new data “impacting the potential benefit-risk profile of a vaccine for the youngest children.” In December, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that the immune response generated by the vaccine in children between 2 and 4 years old was not sufficiently robust. But the companies said the vaccine had provoked a strong enough response in children 6 months to 2 years old. A third shot was added to the trial to increase the immune response. An earlier vaccine trial in children 5 to 11 years old was also focused on showing that those children had adequate immune responses after vaccination. In addition, there were enough cases of illness in that study population to determine that the vaccine was 91% effective in preventing symptomatic illness. The companies said Tuesday that the FDA requested they move forward with an application because of the “urgent public health need in this population,” noting that 1.6 million children under the age of 4 have tested positive for the coronavirus. “The need for a safe and effective vaccine for our youngest children is significant, particularly given the rapid spread of the omicron variant, the notable rise in the number of hospitalizations in young children with severe disease, and the possibility that future variants could cause severe disease in those who are unvaccinated,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. Read full story Source: The Washington Post, 1 February 2022
  6. News Article
    Trust were tonight told to cease plans for dismissing unvaccinated staff, as the government announced it would consult on dropping its mandatory covid vaccine policy. An email to local NHS leaders said: “Today the Secretary of State has announced that [the vaccination as a condition of deployment policy] is being reconsidered. The government’s decision is subject to Parliamentary process and will require further consultation and a vote to be passed into legislation. “We are aware that, based on the guidance already issued to the service, you will have begun to prepare for formal meetings with staff on their deployment if they remain unvaccinated. This change in government policy means we request that employers do not serve notice of termination to employees affected by the [vaccination as a condition of deployment] regulations.” Previous guidance had required that, after 3 February – the deadline to have a first vaccination in order to have two vaccines by the 1 April legal cut-off – trusts begin formal meetings and issue dismissal warnings to unvaccinated patient-facing staff. Huge efforts have been put into encouraging staff to be vaccinated and to preparing for the next steps in recent weeks. However, tens of thousands across England are still believed to have had no vaccine, or to have an “unknown” vaccine status. The brief NHSE letter gave no further guidance on whether trusts should continue to press staff to be vaccinated by that date, or continue to have discussions about redeployment. Sajid Javid, who introduced the legal requirements last year, told the Commons: “I am announcing that we will launch a consultation on ending [VCOD] in health and all social care settings. “Subject to the responses – and the will of this House – the Government will revoke the regulations. I have always been clear that our rules must remain proportionate and balanced – and of course, should we see another dramatic change in the virus, it would be responsible to review this policy again.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 February 2022
  7. News Article
    More than 1 in 10 school entry-age children in England are at risk of measles because they have not had their vaccine jabs, data reveals. Coverage for the two doses of MMR that helps protect five-year-olds against measles, mumps and rubella is currently at 85.5%. That is the lowest for a decade, and well below the 95% target recommended to stop a resurgence of measles. Measles is highly contagious, more than Covid, and can cause serious illness. Nine in every 10 people can catch it if they are unjabbed and exposed. As well as a distinctive rash, measles can lead to severe complications, such as pneumonia and brain inflammation, and sometimes can be fatal. Vaccination can remove almost all of these risks. Two doses of the MMR vaccine give 99% protection against measles and rubella and about 88% protection against mumps. When a high percentage of the population is protected through vaccination, it becomes harder for the disease to pass between people. But since the start of the Covid pandemic, there has been a concerning drop in the number of children receiving these vaccines on time. Experts say some parents may not have realised doctors were still offering appointments, or did not want to burden the NHS. Coverage of the first dose of the MMR vaccine in two-year-olds has now fallen below 90%. This means that more than one in 10 children under the age of five are not fully protected from measles and are at risk of catching it. Among all five-year-olds in England, 93.7% have had one dose and 85.5% have had the recommended two doses. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 February 2022
  8. News Article
    The question of whether to impose a policy requiring mandatory vaccination for NHS staff has raised countless ethical and practical considerations, but with many healthcare workers still unvaccinated and the Government set for a U-turn over mandatory Covid jabs for NHS staff in England, has enough thought been given to the perspective of patients? Various legal experts and health groups have argued that while doctors and nurses can reject the offer of vaccination, patients should also have the right to refuse treatment from a healthcare worker who is not jabbed, instead requesting that their care is placed in the hands of someone who is protected. With the February deadline pushed back, could patients start to grow weary of staff who have not been vaccinated? Will they feel as though the chance for refuseniks to get jabbed has come and gone, and that it is therefore justified that they are stripped of their right to deliver treatment? “Patients have a right to safe care, so it’s reasonable for patients to expect any health or social care professional caring for them to have had a Covid-19 vaccine,” says Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association. Most patients may not be overly concerned about the vaccination status of those caring for them, but in a world in which we’re expected to live alongside the threat posed by Covid, there are undoubtedly certain groups who will be more invested in these matters. “A person who is ‘vulnerable’ by way of disability or chronic illness (eg immunocompromised) may well have an argument under the Equality Act that the NHS failing to provide vaccinated staff to them constitutes disability-based discrimination,” says one barrister who specialises in mental health capacity law. After all, these individuals are most at risk from COVID-19 – and will be for years to come. Clinically vulnerable people who do find themselves in hospital for whatever reason will know that a Sars-CoV-2 infection could further exacerbate their condition, or endanger their lives. Read full story Source: The Independent, 30 January 2022
  9. News Article
    Downing Street appears likely to drop its policy of dismissing frontline NHS and care staff in England who refuse Covid vaccinations, a minister has strongly indicated, after nursing and care organisations called for this to happen. A decision would be made “in the course of the next few days”, according to Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury. He said the lower severity of the Omicron variant of Covid did “open a space” for the policy to be reversed. The apparent imminent U-turn came as the Royal College of Nursing argued that both the change in severity from Omicron and the number of NHS vacancies meant the mandatory vaccination policy should be dropped. The National Care Association said it would also welcome a change of policy, while warning that many unvaccinated care staff had already lost their jobs in the run-up to the 1 April deadline. Asked about reports of a change to the policy, Clarke told Sky News that ministers had hoped to find “the right balance between having the maximum impact for measures that support public safety in the face of the virus, but also have the minimum impact in terms of our wider freedoms as a society”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 31 January 2022
  10. News Article
    Small changes to periods can follow a Covid vaccine but they quickly return to normal, a leading UK menstruation expert has said. Dr Victoria Male, from Imperial College London, called studies from the US and Norway which tracked women's cycles "reassuring". And she blamed misinformation for fuelling concerns over infertility. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says there is no evidence Covid vaccines affect the ability to have children. The MHRA has received more than 37,000 reports of unexpected vaginal bleeding, heavier and delayed periods after a Covid jab. It has always said there is no evidence of a link to the vaccine, because women's cycles vary naturally - but scientists called for more research. Dr Male said: "Changes to the menstrual cycle do occur following vaccination - but they are small compared with natural variation and quickly reverse." Women's concerns arose "from misinformation that Covid-19 vaccines cause female infertility", she said. And more studies of pregnancy rates in couples trying to conceive were needed to make it clear they do not. A Covid infection, however, "may reduce sperm count and quality" - and understanding more about that would mean patients could be given the right advice. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 January 2022
  11. News Article
    An NHS England director and trust chief says he ‘fears [the NHS] will see increasing numbers of resignations’ unless more is done to ensure burnt-out staff are given sufficient leave to recover mentally and physically. Matthew Winn, NHSE’s director of community health and Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust chief executive, set out his concerns in a paper for discussion at his trust’s board meeting today. While the service is grappling to keep tabs on the number of staff it is losing because of compulsory vaccination plans, the issue of staff leaving because of burnout is harder to quantify, but a huge concern to NHS leaders. Nearly two years of tackling coronavirus has taken a huge emotional and physical toll on a large proportion of the workforce and burnout was a growing issue even before the pandemic. Mr Winn’s paper says: “As the NHS starts to focus on recovering from the current covid pressures, it is vital that the national, regional and local planning must take into consideration that our staff need time to recover and that they cannot (for example) be expected to catch up on the waiting lists that have accrued, without time and resources to support them. “In the absence of such an approach, I fear that we will see increasing numbers of resignations and the care we will be able to provide will be far short of the standards we set ourselves and that the public expects from us.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 26 January 2022
  12. News Article
    An NHS England letter has warned of “significant variation” in the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine amongst pregnant women, and called on systems to enable more “spontaneous” antenatal vaccination. In the letter, sent to integrated care system vaccination programme leads, ICS maternity leads and other NHS clinical directors, NHS England said that while the rates of women who had received at least two doses of the vaccine before giving birth was on the rise, there was “significant variation in uptake between regions and systems and in every system, between women of different ethnicities, decile of deprivation in their local area, and age groups”. The letter asks that covid vaccines are made available within antenatal clinics “to maximise uptake” and that partially vaccinated women “are offered vaccine confidence conversations and advised antenatally on the nearest available walk-in vaccinations”. Vaccination programme and maternity service leads have also been told to make use of resources and funding available to drive uptake in at-risk groups. It said: “Vaccination and maternity leads should discuss how this resource could be used to provide in-reach clinics within every maternity service, without creating additional burden on midwifery staff.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 26 January 2022
  13. News Article
    Nearly half of patients with blood cancer are insufficiently protected against the Omicron variant after three vaccine doses, according to a new study. Experts from the Francis Crick Institute and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust said their research highlights the need for a fourth jab among these vulnerable people. As part of the ongoing Capture study, scientists have been monitoring the antibody response of hundreds of patients with different types of cancer, after one, two and three vaccine doses. Specifically, the researchers measured levels of neutralising antibodies which identify, attack and block the Omicron variant from infecting the body’s cells. Patients with solid tumours appeared to generate antibody responses similar to people without cancer. But among patients with blood cancer who had three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, only 56 per cent generated neutralising antibodies, according to the study, which has been published as a research letter in The Lancet. This means that 44% of patients with blood cancer did not generate a sufficient antibody response. The study supports the need for four jabs among these immunocompromised groups of people. “We found that a third vaccine dose boosted the neutralising response against Omicron in patients with cancer, but the effect was blunted in patients with blood cancer compared to those with solid cancer,” the authors wrote. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 January 2022
  14. News Article
    A US hospital has rejected a patient for a heart transplant at least in part because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. DJ Ferguson, 31, is in dire need of a new heart, but Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston took him off their list, said his father, David. He said the Covid vaccine goes against his son's "basic principles, he doesn't believe in it". The hospital said it was following policy. Brigham and Women's Hospital told the BBC in a statement: "Given the shortage of available organs, we do everything we can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplanted organ has the greatest chance of survival." A spokesman said the hospital requires "the Covid-19 vaccine, and lifestyle behaviours for transplant candidates to create both the best chance for a successful operation and to optimise the patient's survival after transplantation, given that their immune system is drastically suppressed". The hospital's carefully worded statement may suggest other factors lie beyond the patient's unvaccinated status for his ineligibility, but it refused to discuss specifics, citing patient privacy. Dr Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told CBS News that after any organ transplant a patient's immune system is all but shut down and even a common cold can prove fatal. "The organs are scarce, we are not going to distribute them to someone who has a poor chance of living when others who are vaccinated have a better chance post-surgery of surviving," said Dr Caplan. Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 January 2022
  15. News Article
    New data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that unvaccinated adults infected with Covid-19 who are 65 and older are 49 times more likely to need hospitalisation compared to those who have received booster doses. The CDC also found that in December, unvaccinated adults in that same age group experienced a rate of Covid-related hospitalisation 17 times higher than those who are fully vaccinated. For unvaccinated adults between 50 and 64, they are 44 times more likely to require hospitalisation compared with those who are immunised. In that same age group, unvaccinated adults were also 17 times more likely to experience Covid-related hospitalisation. According to the CDC, adults who are 65 and older and have received both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine showed a 94% reduced risk of Covid-related hospitalisations. “Getting very sick means that older adults with Covid-19 might need hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe, or they might even die. The risk increases for people in their 50s and increases in 60s, 70s, and 80s. People 85 and older are the most likely to get very sick,” the CDC said on its website. “Get vaccinated as soon as possible,” the agency added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 January 2022
  16. News Article
    The Irish Cabinet has approved general indemnity cover and product liability cover for claims to two public sector bodies relating to transvaginal mesh products and the Gardasil HPV vaccine. The Health Minister Stephen Donnelly brought forward a proposal to Cabinet Wednesday for the provision of this cover to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) and the Mental Health Commission (MHC) for claims relating to the mesh products or Gardasil. Gardasil is a type of vaccine used to protect against HPV. Vaginal mesh devices have been used in operations to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse; two conditions that can impact women after natural childbirth or in their later years. Including the bodies in the State’s general indemnity scheme for these claims will eliminate the requirement for them to carry private insurance. The State Claims Agency was consulted and indicated that it supports the inclusion of both bodies under the scheme. The clinical indemnity scheme indemnifies hospitals but is confined to clinical acts and/or omissions and doesn’t cover product liability matters. Current legal cases around transvaginal mesh products involve allegations in relation to the product itself and allegations of clinical negligence. It has now been proposed to delegate the product liability claims for mesh products to the State Claims Agency to ensure hospitals aren’t exposed to uninsured liability. Thousands of women across the world have suffered complications after having a vaginal mesh device implanted. These complications include chronic pain and recurrent urinary tract infections and have been life-changing in many cases. Read full story Source: thejournal.ie, 19 January 2022
  17. News Article
    The NHS could be forced to dismiss almost 2,000 midwives by the government’s mandatory vaccination policy, amid warnings from a former chief nurse of England that mothers and babies will be put at risk. Well-placed senior sources have told HSJ around 1,700 midwives remain unvaccinated nationally, according to the latest data from trusts. Based on official headcount data that would amount to between 6.5-8% of the workforce, depending on whether it counts full time equivalent or total staff numbers. However, they are mostly in London, with the latest estimate in the city said to be about 680 (representing between 12 and 14% of the workforce), several well placed sources told HSJ, meaning its maternity services could be seriously destabilised. A former chief nurse of England, Sarah Mullally, who now sits in the House of Lords as the Bishop of London, said she believed about 12.5% of London’s midwives were unvaccinated, and called on the government to delay the mandatory health worker vaccination policy. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, she warned mothers and babies would be put at risk, “in order to implement a policy that has been superseded by the evolution of the virus”. She added: “I would strongly encourage everyone, including NHS staff and health care workers, to get fully vaccinated. However, having heard from midwives myself this week, I can see the anxiety that the requirement for mandatory vaccination is causing, as well as the potential risks to the heath service and its patients. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 January 2022
  18. News Article
    Ministers have been issued with a stark warning over mandatory Covid vaccines for NHS workers in England, with a leaked document saying growing evidence on the Omicron variant casts doubts over the new law’s “rationality” and “proportionality”. Two jabs will become compulsory for frontline NHS staff from 1 April after MPs voted on the legislation last month. But the document, drawn up by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials and seen by the Guardian, said the evidence base on which MPs voted “has changed”, creating a higher chance of objections and judicial review. The effectiveness of only two vaccine doses against Omicron, and the lower likelihood of hospitalisations from the milder variant, are cited. More than 70,000 NHS staff – 4.9% – could remain unvaccinated by 1 April, the document says. NHS trusts in England are preparing to start sending dismissal letters from 3 February to any member of staff who has not had their first dose by then. Amid significant pressures on the NHS, last week groups including the Royal College of Nursing urged Sajid Javid, the health secretary, to delay the legislation, known as “vaccination as a condition of deployment” (VCOD2). On Tuesday the Royal College of Nursing said the leaked memo should prompt ministers to call a halt to the imposition of compulsory jabs, which it called “reckless”. “The government should now instigate a major rethink”, said Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s England director. “Mandation is not the answer and sacking valued nursing staff during a workforce crisis is reckless.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 January 2022
  19. News Article
    Giving repeated booster doses of existing CovidD-19 vaccines in developed countries is not a sustainable global strategy for tackling the pandemic, the World Health Organization has said. Instead, WHO argues that the focus should shift towards producing new vaccines that work better against transmission of emerging variants. In a statement, published on 11 January, the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition said, “A vaccination strategy based on repeated booster doses of the original vaccine composition is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable.” The expert group, which is assessing the performance of Covid-19 vaccines, said that to deal with emerging variants such as omicron, new vaccines needed to be developed that not only protect people against serious illness but against infection. “Covid-19 vaccines that have high impact on prevention of infection and transmission, in addition to the prevention of severe disease and death, are needed and should be developed,” the group said. Vaccines also need to be more effective at protection against infection, “thus lowering community transmission and the need for stringent and broad reaching public health and social measures,” the group said. Read full story Source: BMJ, 17 January 2022
  20. News Article
    A woman has spoken of her "devastation" after losing a baby delivered while she was in an induced coma with Covid. Rachel, from Wolverhampton was admitted to hospital over the summer in the 19th week of pregnancy. She said uncertainty about whether pregnant women should have the Covid vaccine had put her off getting it. Her condition deteriorated and she said she was so ill she did not realise at first son Jaxon was stillborn. "I was heavily sedated a lot of the time and from what I'm told by my family, my chances weren't looking very good," the 38-year-old said. "They were trying to get the baby to survive to 28 weeks but unfortunately, at 24 weeks, my son was born stillborn." Rachel, who said she had planned to have the vaccine after giving birth, is now urging others to get the jab, particularly women from minority backgrounds, for whom uptake is lower. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 January 2022
  21. News Article
    NHS organisations have been told to prepare for redeploying or dismissing thousands of unvaccinated staff without an exit payment, and to raise the alarm about services which may be rendered unsafe. NHS England today issued guidance on ‘phase two’ of the government’s “vaccination as a condition of deployment”, which requires all patient-facing staff to have had two covid vaccinations by 1 April. Tens of thousands of staff are believed to still be unvaccinated, and the cut off for having a first dose is 3 February. The guidance said efforts should be made to adjust roles or redeploy staff, but added: “From 4 February 2022, staff who remain unvaccinated (excluding those who are exempt) should be invited to a formal meeting chaired by an appropriate manager, in which they are notified that a potential outcome of the meeting may be dismissal.” It continued: “Whilst organisations are encouraged to explore deployment, the general principles which apply in a redundancy exercise are not applicable here, and it is important that managers are aware of this.” Employers will “not be concerned with finding ‘suitable alternative employment’ and there will be no redundancy entitlements, including payments, whether statutory or contractual, triggered by this process”. Trusts also do not have to “collectively consult” with staff being dismissed — as they would with a restructure — although this is “ultimately a decision for each organisation to take”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 14 January 2022
  22. News Article
    A new study has linked COVID-19 to complications during pregnancy. Scottish researchers found that women who catch the virus near the end of pregnancy were more vulnerable to birth-related complications. They are more likely to suffer them than women who catch Covid in early pregnancy or not at all. The researchers say getting vaccinated is crucial to protect pregnant women and their babies from life-threatening complications. The latest findings come from the Covid in Pregnancy Study (Cops), which carried out research across Scotland to learn about the incidence and outcomes of Covid-19 infection and vaccination in pregnancy. It is one of the first national studies of pregnancy and Covid. They found that preterm births, stillbirths and newborn deaths were more common among women who had the virus 28 days, or less, before their delivery date. The majority of complications occurred in unvaccinated women. The results, which have been published in Nature Medicine, come after recent data showed 98% of pregnant women admitted to UK intensive care units with coronavirus symptoms were unvaccinated. Researchers are now calling for measures to increase vaccine uptake in pregnant women. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 January 2022
  23. News Article
    A trust has warned it could be forced to restrict maternity services due to a high midwife vacancy rate, and large numbers unvaccinated among the current staff. The government has mandated that all patient-facing NHS staff must have had two covid vaccination doses from 1 April — meaning they will need to have received their first dose by 3 February. If not, they can be redeployed to non patient-facing roles, or face dismissal. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust’s board heard on Tuesday that the current numbers pose a “significant operational problem” amid efforts to encourage more staff to get both covid jabs before the government’s deadline. The board meeting was told that, of the trust’s 7,550 staff, approximately 1,300 workers – or 17.4% – do not have a vaccination recorded against them, with the areas of greatest concern being women’s and children’s health, geriatric services, the emergency departments and some clinical support services. At the board meeting, BHRUHT chief executive Matthew Trainer said: “The vacancy rate, plus the unvaccinated rate, would put us in quite a serious position. “At the minute, for example, the Queen’s Birth Centre [at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, east London], I don’t think, has been open since I got here. I couldn’t see any circumstances in which it would reopen if we lost another chunk of midwives, for the foreseeable future certainly, in terms of vaccination. “I think it would leave us in a position where we’d have to look at constraining services and focusing in on core [services], establishment being focused on the labour ward, looking at complex births and making sure we’re doing everything we possibly can to manage it as safely as possible.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 12 January 2022
  24. News Article
    Occupational health professionals should avoid employment and management matters related to unvaccinated NHS staff, new guidance has warned. The Faculty of Occupational Medicine guidance comes as trusts are considering their options of how to approach patient-facing staff who remain unvaccinated, including their potential redeployment or dismissal. However, HSJ understands some occupational health practitioners are concerned they may become entangled in difficult ethical issues, such as the vaccination status of individual employees, or disciplinary processes. Today’s FOM guidance said: “There is no scope for occupational health practitioners to provide an opinion on medical exemptions, whether to confirm or refute them… “Redeployment, dismissal and other employment consequences of vaccine refusal by a worker, within the scope of the proposed regulations, are entirely employment and management matters, and not an area in which occupational health should be involved.” FOM president Steve Nimmo said: “When the programme is implemented, occupational health professionals should be mindful of ethical and consent issues, and be careful not to be associated with any disciplinary process.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 January 2022
  25. News Article
    Pregnant women are being urged not to delay getting their Covid jab or booster in a government campaign. More than 96% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid symptoms between May and October last year were unvaccinated, according to the UK Obstetric Surveillance System. The campaign will share testimonies of pregnant women who have had the jab on radio and social media. The government said the vaccine was safe and had no impact on fertility. In December, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation added pregnant women to the priority list for the vaccine, saying they were at heightened risk from Covid. Around one in five pregnant women admitted to hospital with the virus needed to be delivered pre-term to help them recover, and one in five of their babies needed care in the neonatal unit, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Prof Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser to the DHSC, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a third of unvaccinated pregnant women with COVID-19 needed help with breathing and one in six were admitted to intensive care. "We've also seen stillbirths and neonatal deaths in the latest wave," she said. Prof Chappell said the vaccine causes pregnant women to produce antibodies against the virus, which cross over to their babies and give them protection too. Dr Jen Jardine, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who is seven months pregnant and has had her booster jab, said: "Both as a doctor and pregnant mother myself, we can now be very confident that the Covid-19 vaccinations provide the best possible protection for you and your unborn child against this virus." Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 January 2022
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