BRADFORD GP Dr Amir Khan fears making vaccinations mandatory for care home staff could drive people out of the sector, leaving a "big hole".

Speaking on Good Morning Britain this morning following reports the Government is to announce that care home workers will be required to have mandatory coronavirus vaccinations, Dr Khan said: “My personal experience, I’ve been responsible for vaccinating the residents and the staff our practice looks after, and we’ve got five in total, and I’ve had no problem vaccinating the staff.

“They’ve all come forward, some of them have been hesitant and asked me questions about it, and I’ve talked through their concerns and in the end, all of them had gone on to have the vaccine."

The Ridge Medical Practice doctor added: “I personally don’t think vaccines should be made mandatory, I think it should be done through education, listening to concerns, making sure people have the right information so they can make an informed choice, trying to challenge the misinformation that’s out there.

“That’s usually what’s stopping the minority of care home staff not having the vaccine. It’s important to say he vast majority have had the vaccine, and I’ve also worked in care homes, when I was 16/17/18 at school, and through my medical school career in the summer holidays, I worked in care homes, as a carer and it’s hard.

“It’s really hard, it’s a tough job, it involves a lot of intimate care, a lot of things people might not be able to do, there isn’t a queue of people waiting to take these jobs and as you say, if we make vaccines mandatory, that might drive people out of these jobs and it will leave a big hole in that sector and that will be really hard, and it will have an impact on the NHS as well.”