Healthcare workers who refuse the COVID vaccine could be banned from working on the frontline according to Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
This comes after 15% of nursing home staff may have refused the vaccine in the month of January, according to a survey carried out by Newstalk.
Out of 40 nursing homes contacted, uptake rates among staff had an average of around 85%.
37 of the homes who participated in the survey had at least one person who turned down the vaccine due to personal reasons.
Minister McEntee told Newstalk that frontline workers could lose their jobs if they refuse to get vaccinated.
She said: “I do think that is something that we would need to consider, yes.
“Particularly if we are seeing high numbers of frontline staff working in hospitals or in other settings refusing to take the vaccine.
“It is something that the HSE, the Department of Health and those managing our hospitals and other healthcare settings would have to look at very carefully and I am sure they would do that.
“But obviously the objective here is that people would willingly come forward to take the vaccine and I think in the majority of cases we have seen that people do want to take this vaccine, not just for themselves but for the people they are working with, they are helping and they live with in other circumstances as well.”
Two Dublin nursing homes have confirmed that they organised raffles and cash prizes to encourage staff to get vaccinated.
Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly said he would “absolutely support” mandatory vaccination for healthcare staff.
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