Ride-sleep-repeat wrote:Whether they are employed by the NHS or not is irrelevant.They are entitled to their opinion!Many of our friends work for the NHS and many of them do not support this.Your employer,whether NHS or not should not be allowed to dictate your views!
Whatever their personal opinions and views, a doctor who suggests to their patients that a particular treatment is unnecessary or unsafe, contrary to the published medical evidence, studies and the guidelines of bodies such as the NHS and NICE, is a danger to their patients.
Doctors are in a position of great power and authority, but with that comes responsibility. If they breach the rules under which they are licensed to practise, then they are rightly liable to disciplinary action by the GMC.
Ride-sleep-repeat wrote:ncutler wrote:What he really needs is to be reported to the GMC and struck off.
That is not only extreme but it could set a dangerous president.Be very careful what you wish for as you might not like the end result!
I suspect ncutler's comment is possibly somewhat hyperbolic, and I imagine that the GP in question would merely have his knuckles rapped if he had indeed said what has been attributed to him by Biospace*, provided he undertook not to repeat such comments to his patients or the public. If he persisted in making such comments, then it probably would be appropriate
and necessary for him to be struck off. Just as it was absolutely appropriate and necessary for Andrew Wakefield to be struck off.
* It's possible that Biospace has misunderstood or misinterpreted his GP's comments, but that would only illustrate why doctors have to be very careful in what they say to reduce the likelihood of that happening.
As for the issue of vaccination being compulsory, I think there would be very little support amongst the general public and in Parliament for such legislation. However, it might conceivably be appropriate, legal and even essential for some employers to require certain employees in particular circumstances to have been vaccinated in order to comply with the duties imposed on those employers under existing health and safety at work legislation to protect the health of their employees and of others. If so, that is likely to be something which would be determined by the courts, who would have to judge whether it was appropriate. In some health care settings vaccination might be essential to protect the employee, e.g. a nurse working on a Covid ward, or to protect patients or other vulnerable people (especially if vaccination is proved to significantly reduce transmissibility), e.g. an employee in a care home.
It is possible - even likely - that some commercial service providers might require customers to have been vaccinated, for example an airline might insist that all passengers have been vaccinated (although it might be more likely that the destination countries would require this of the carrier). If so, that is something which society and the government and courts will have to deal with. We already have laws that address when discrimination is lawful or unlawful, and which protect certain groups against discrimination. I would expect that similar such laws could be introduced which would appropriately protect the rights of unvaccinated individuals and balance them against the rights and needs of other people and wider society.
