The Minister for Care has written to local authorities, care providers and directors of adult social services following the publication of a standard operating procedure to support the vaccination of all community-based frontline social care workers.
The NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme will offer a first vaccination appointment to all eligible frontline social care workers by mid-February.
To ensure as many staff can be vaccinated as quickly and as safely as possible, care providers are working with their local authority and local NHS vaccination teams to ensure all eligible staff can access a vaccination using hospital hubs, local GPs, vaccinations centres or community pharmacies while ensuring continuity of care.
All eligible staff will receive a letter with information about how and when they will receive their vaccination.
Minister for Care Helen Whately said: “I have seen for myself how incredibly hard the social care sector has worked throughout this pandemic to provide safe, compassionate care to some of the most at-risk people in our society.
“Vaccines are our way out of this pandemic and this guidance will help us offer a jab to everyone in the top four priority groups, including frontline social care staff.
“By getting vaccinated, care workers can help protect themselves from becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 so they can continue to be there for their family, friends, and the people they care for.”
Sir David Pearson, Chair of the COVID-19 Social Care Support Taskforce, said: “The social care sector is even more diverse than the NHS and involves a significant number of different employers, including individual service users - this makes any vaccine rollout challenging.
“Throughout the pandemic we have strengthened relationships with local authorities, service users and providers and this additional guidance will play an important part in rolling out the crucial vaccine to staff working across the sector. This shot in the arm will give staff the protection they need to work our way out of the pandemic and back to life as we knew it.”
The standard operating procedure can be viewedhere.
