Our View: Nurses refusing jab poses dilemma for understaffed health sector

The revelation that 50 per cent of nursing staff at state hospitals had not been vaccinated for Covid-19 came as a big surprise. This posed a risk to patients entering a hospital as well as to the ability of hospitals, which are supposed to be under-staffed, to operate smoothly. Four cases were reported at the Makarios children’s hospital, neo-natal ICU where a baby had also been infected.

The spokesman of Okypy, Charalambos Charilaou, who made the revelation about the unvaccinated staff, said there was little the state medical services could do about this. Nursing staff could not be forced to be vaccinated, although Okypy had put a programme in place to vaccinate all staff in state hospitals. “We haven’t reached very high levels of vaccine coverage of personnel,” he admitted.

As vaccinations are not mandatory, nursing staff (the percentage of unvaccinated hospital doctors is much lower) were free to do as they pleased, even though their decision could put patients at risk. The problem is compounded by the fact that state hospitals are facing staff shortages and could not operate without half of their unvaccinated nurses.

And giving unvaccinated hospital workers administrative or clerical jobs instead would be rewarding them for refusing to be vaccinated. Then again, how can Okypy protect patients, who would not want to be infected because they had to go to a state hospital? The only answer would be to make vaccinations mandatory for hospital staff, but that would be a blatant violation of individual rights, an option that must be avoided.

The government was more forceful in dealing with state schoolteachers. It stopped them entering school if they refused to have the mandatory weekly rapid test, and disciplinary measures were taken against those who refused to comply. Then again, a rapid test is very different from a vaccination, something which many people strongly object to.

People objecting to be vaccinated is something that society will have to accept and deal with. No state that respects individual rights could make vaccinations mandatory, even though some governments are considering indirect ways of making people comply, such as banning them from entry to bars or cafes without a vaccination certificate. The EU has talked about the possibility of a green passport, without which people would not be able to travel within the Union, but a decision is still some way away.

The fact that such options are being discussed is a worrying trend of how governments think about the matter. In the end, the vaccination might not be mandatory, but the unvaccinated might be unable to visit a restaurant, a café, or travel abroad.