Prof Jonathan Parker says the government needs to gain people’s trust, especially those working at the sharp end of social care, while Dr Dorothea Morfey offers clarity over hepatitis B vaccinations for medical staff
I am passionate about the importance of the Covid-19 vaccination programme. I recently wrote a paper in the Journal of Adult Protection identifying the structural abuse of people in care homes during the Covid pandemic, which implicated the government by means of its approach in the initial and subsequent wave. So, it may be assumed that I would be supportive of moves to mandate the vaccination of care home staff who work specifically with older people (Report, 15 June).
This seems to me, however, like a distraction, a passing of blame by government to those staff who, for whatever reasons, are anxious about having the vaccine, rather than government ministers owning their inadequate and structurally discriminatory response in the first place. The government needs to gain the trust of the people, especially those working at the sharp end of social care, through honesty, openness and acceptance of fault in order to encourage everyone to take up the necessary vaccinations to halt the spread of this virus.
Prof Jonathan Parker
Bournemouth University
