Health Minister hopes vaccination legislation won’t be necessary

Tuesday 05 May 2020

The Health Minister is hoping islanders will eventually choose to be vaccinated against covid-19 “voluntarily” rather than having to introduce a law forcing them to do so.

Deputy Richard Renouf said local laws do not currently give him the power to force vaccinations.

While he indicated that no such law is being developed at the moment, he stated in a press conference on Friday: "It may need to come to a place where we do consider that."

VIdeo: The Health Minister didn't rule out the idea of using law to ensure people are being vaccinated.

The UK government has given £22.5m to the Imperial College London and £20m to Oxford University to fund the development of a covid-19 vaccine.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously touted the idea of compulsory vaccinations for state school pupils in a bid to tackle falling rates. 

Jersey’s Health Minister is however hoping he won’t have to force people to get vaccinated against the virus and that islanders will “voluntarily come for their own protection to receive that vaccine”.

“I hope we wouldn’t need to legislate for it, which is the position with all the other vaccines,” he said. 

“We have a very good take-up in Jersey, the island responds well to appeals to keep our immune levels up and I home the same may happen with Covid.”

Pictured: The Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf.

While a vaccine might not be available for quite some time, the Government started easing lockdown on Saturday in a bid to preserve islanders’ mental and physical health and wellbeing as well as the local economy.

The ‘Safe Exit Framework’ will be implemented in stages, following medical advice.

“Undoubtedly, we will see an increase (in cases) because that is a consequence of greater movement of people,” the Health Minister said. “That will mean more people in hospital and, sadly, an increase in the number of deaths.”