Do doctors have to have the covid-19 vaccine?

Dear Editor,

In response to the BMJ article “Do doctors have to have the covid-19 vaccine?”[1] Basically, the answer is “Yes, unless they inform all their patients of the situation.”

Any decision that might cause risk to patients, residents of care homes or any other members of the general public should not be made by health care workers such as doctors in secret without informing the people potentially at risk. It is not acceptable for doctors who have refused a covid vaccination to have face-to-face contact with vulnerable patients without informing them that they might be at greater risk than they might otherwise have thought. This logic should surely apply to any medical procedure. The patient must ultimately be allowed to choose whether or not to incur any risk, even if the risk is perceived by a doctor to be small. The patient must decide. This is informed consent. Without being informed, a patient is in no position to give valid consent. Any health professional should be scrupulous in applying the informed consent procedure in all circumstances. Not to do so opens the door to litigation.

Once covid vaccination has been rolled out so that all health professionals have been offered vaccination, a vulnerable person needing health care might reasonably assume that those giving them care have had the jab. It would be the responsibility of anyone unvaccinated to inform their clientele if any unexpected risk were being incurred.

What would happen if such information were not given and a vulnerable person subsequently dies after catching covid from an asymptomtic unvaccinated health worker? The legal implications would need to be considered.

Reference
[1] BMJ 2021;372:n810