UPDATE: 3rd February
We recently put out the below statement in regards to a Government mandate for health and social care students to have mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. Since then, it has been announced in Parliament on 31st January 2022 that the 1st April deadline for full COVID-19 vaccination or medical exemption is no longer applicable and a consultation will be launched on ending vaccination as a condition of deployment in all health and social care settings. Subject to the responses to the consultation, the Health Secretary stated that the government will revoke the regulations. The full statement can be found here.
The University will be communicating with students to provide the new updated information and guidance. Currently, any requirements for students to present COVID vaccination passes are on pause and any future updates will be provided when available.
As part of the communications sent out to students, the University have stated it is important to recognise that whilst no Government mandate is currently in operation in relation to COVID vaccination, local organisational policy may require this as a condition of placement. Students are therefore advised that they may be asked by placement providers to show proof of COVID vaccination or medical exemption and where applicable should ensure they have this readily available. The University will work to try to place any student unable to demonstrate this in locations where this is not a requirement however as local policy is out of the control of the University there may be occasions when this is not possible and delays to your programme may be experienced.
The University will continue to work with our work-based learning partners and will keep you updated of any significant changes to local policy which may affect placement availability for students.
Statement on mandatory vaccinations for healthcare students
If you are studying a health or social care related course, you will be aware of the email you received from the University regarding the mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations from 1st April 2022.
We’ve all felt the impact of the pandemic and as your Students’ Union, we have seen first-hand how the pandemic has caused upset and instability for UCLan students since March 2020. We are pleased that solutions like the vaccine are allowing us to begin to return to normal, to allow students to meet and have access to a full University experience - without being restricted to living life and learning at home. Based on this, we encourage all students to take the vaccine to protect themselves and others.
Throughout the pandemic, the University has followed Government guidance to ensure the safety of students and staff. Even when restrictions have been relaxed, the University has been focused on a safe and secure return to face-to-face teaching, which has been of great benefit to students. We welcome this clear emphasis on student experience when many other institutes have forced students to continue their studies remotely.
Following recently updated guidance, the Government is now mandating students on certain health related courses to have the vaccine. Therefore, the University legally has to enable these checks to go ahead, or would be breaking the law. In order to continue to progress on the course and participate in things like work placements, students must have been vaccinated.
In many cases, this is a significant change to course requirements, above and beyond what students were expected to do when they signed-up to their course. We have heard from a number of students who have expressed how frustrated they are and the fact they have no choice if they want to continue on their course due to the mandatory vaccinations.
We understand the reasoning from Government to expect students on certain courses to have the vaccine. They have a duty of care to the patients they are supporting and as such, there is an expectation that they reduce the chances their patients could become worse off having received treatment from those without the vaccine. Similar thinking is applied to those in healthcare and other industries, (such as nurses, prison staff, doctors, dentists and laboratory staff) who have advised hepatitis-B vaccinations.
Based on this, some students will not want to carry on with their course and will want to understand their options. The Elected Officer Team have met with University Management and discussed the importance of the University in adopting a supportive approach to help these students look at potential next steps if they decide to not take up the vaccine, which includes finding alternative courses - that do not require vaccinations. We know these conversations have already begun with some students and will continue.
Finally, students are within their rights to make complaints to the University if they are being unfairly treated and do not agree with the process and their decision. Regardless of our position, we always support all students with independent advice and support. If you wish to make a complaint then please contact the Students’ Union Advice Service who can tell you the next steps – click here to contact an Advisor.