who are doing their utmost to support the public. dr clive kay, chief executive king s hospital in london, has said that 10% of his staff of 14,000 are yet to be vaccinated. my colleague sophie raworth asked him whether it was right for his staff to be forced to take the covid vaccine by april. they are not being forced, just to be really clear, they have not been forced and it is not mandatory, they are being encouraged. but they could lose theirjobs. there is a possibility if they choose not to be vaccinated they could be redeployed, and if we can t find that opportunity to redeploy, then the consequences. but it is either have your vaccination or lose yourjob, but your hospital, people may well have seen, the health secretary was here last week and a consultant, a critical care consultant, confronted him. i would be dismissed - if i don t have a vaccine? the science isn t strong enough. you were there. how did you feel about
i would be dismissed - if i don t have a vaccine? the science isn t strong enough. you were there. how did you feel about hearing that for a start? my personal view as an individual, but in terms of my role as chief executive of king s college hospital is to encourage our staff to be vaccinated and myself, my colleagues, we have been doing that since the vaccination programme started and we will continue to do that. but we will not make individuals be vaccinated. we must treat them with kindness, with compassion, we must give them every single opportunity to talk through if they don t want a vaccine, if they would like to talk, if they need any help or clarification, but ultimately, it is their choice, and i m not going to comment on individual cases, but the reality is, if, at the end of the day, an individual, fully informed and we feel we have done all our very best to encourage them to have the vaccinations and they have decided not to, that is their choice.
a rocky next few weeks. here s our health editor, hugh pym. as the booster roll out continued here in redcar, there was more positive news about its impact. a new study shows that, after three months, boosters still gave high levels of protection for older adults against severe disease caused by omicron, so officials say there is no immediate need forfourth jabs. in terms of protection against severe disease, being hospitalised, the programme has done very, very well. people aged 65 years and above have over 90% protection against being hospitalised. what do you think of the new rule to require vaccination? on a hospital visit, though, the health secretary was challenged by a doctor over mandatoryjabs for nhs staff. i would be dismissed if i don t have a vaccine. the science isn t strong enough.