Failing to offer Covid vaccine to NHS doctors will ‘backfire’

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By Daniel Pye

The Doctors’ Association UK has said the recommendation from expert advisers not to offer a COVID-19 vaccination to doctors next winter will “backfire” with staff sickness and absences.

The latest Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) statement has advised that in autumn 2027 vaccination should only be offered to adults aged 80 years and over, residents in a care home and immunosuppressed babies.

But DAUK has said continuing not to include NHS frontline staff in vaccination rollouts shows leaders have “zero interest” in protecting their health.

In 2025 frontline NHS staff became no longer eligible for a Covid vaccine, a decision which has since been criticised.

The JCVI advises that the highest hospitalisation rates and mortality are seen in older people, particularly those more than 85 years of age.
Since the change last year to only offer the Covid vaccination to adults aged 75 years and over, hospitalisations have not increased in those previously vaccinated, the JCVI stated. The committee has increased the age threshold to 80 this year.