Care workers urged to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19

A social care leader has urged the minority of vaccine-sceptic care workers to make a “life or death” decision.

Mario Kreft MBE issued the call because of the potential dangers posed by the newly-identified Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The new variant was first reported in South Africa last Wednesday.

Mr Kreft is calling on care workers and other to go for their booster jab as soon as they are eligible.

Another concern for Care Forum Wales is that any increase in community transmission could trigger another “pingdemic”, leading to greater staff shortages at the time when the sector was already struggling.

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Mr Kreft said: “Our staff have been heroic throughout the pandemic and they have risen magnificently to the unprecedented challenge.

“This is the time when the whole community can do their bit but it’s especially important that people who work in care homes or in domiciliary care have their third jab.

“Overwhelmingly, the staff working in social care have now had all the necessary jabs but there is still a small minority that have not been fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all in some cases.

“We’re now involved in a race against time against a new variant.

“We won’t know the full extent of the dangers for a few weeks but if we wait until then it could be too late and people will die. That’s the bottom line.

“I cannot stress enough how important this is – it could be a  matter of life and death for the incredibly vulnerable people for whom we provide care and for our staff too.

“We do not have any room for complacency.”