Compensate 40,000 English Care Workers Who Lost Jobs Over Vaccine Mandate, says MP

A view of The Houses of Parliament in early morning sunshine (John Walton/PA)

A British MP says that he is “particularly ashamed” of his vote to dismiss care workers who did not want a COVID-19 vaccination and that he hopes that they can be reinstated and compensated.

Danny Kruger MP was speaking at debate in parliament on Tuesday held in response to a petition calling for a public inquiry into COVID-19 vaccine safety, which has received over 107,000 signatures.

“Although many questions about our COVID response need to be answered, the UK is by no means the worst offender,” Kruger told his fellow lawmakers. “We are not Canada, New Zealand or China; places where governments think they can exterminate COVID by depriving their population of the most basic civil liberties,” he said.

“However, I am afraid that we still have many questions to ask ourselves, and even much to be ashamed of. I put on record that in hindsight I am particularly ashamed of my vote to dismiss care workers who did not want to receive the vaccine. I very much hope that the 40,000 care workers who lost their jobs can be reinstated, and indeed compensated.”

COVID-19 vaccinations were made compulsory for all staff working in care homes in England from Nov. 11 2021.

“A huge loss”

Alan Miller, co-founder of Together Declaration, told The Epoch Times by email that Kruger’s comments were “refreshing and important”.

His organisation was formed in 2021 in response to COVID measures with the mission to “push back against the rapidly growing infringements on our rights and freedoms”

Miller said care workers “had worked courageously throughout the period in the most difficult of circumstances.”

He described the compulsory vaccination as “a huge loss and a shameful moment for Britain.”

“With over 40,000 lost and now 165,000 shortfall, with 13,000 beds not being released in the NHS and 500,000 awaiting care they need to be, as our Together Care Workers campaign insists: apologised to; reinstated; and compensated,” he said.

Miller said that the government must “clarify guidance, because some care homes are still insisting on no jab no job policies as well as a range of restrictions on visiting and impositions such as mask wearing.”

“This is an insult to all of our most vulnerable members of society and needs to end. While the Care and Quality Commission Report spells out all to painfully the shortfalls, few are admitting responsibility as to why this is so severe. That is why we have over 50,000 signatures growing daily which we shall be handing in to health minister the DHSC very soon,” he added.

A doctor prepares the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Halifax, England, on July 31, 2021. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

No coronavirus vaccine inquiry

Health Minister Caroline Johnson told MPs that the government is not planning to open an inquiry solely into the safety of coronavirus vaccines.

“The government have already commissioned a public inquiry into the pandemic, and covid vaccines will be reviewed as part of that inquiry. There are no plans for an inquiry solely on vaccine safety,” she told MPs at the Westminster Hall debate.

She echoed Conservative MP Elliot Colburn, the leader of the debate, who said that a public inquiry into vaccine safety “would be a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Other MPs at the debate had called on the government to investigate potential vaccine harms.

SNP MP Steven Bonnar said that a connection between increase in heart attacks and COVID vaccinations needs to be investigated.

He noted that that the COVID-19 vaccination programme is estimated to have saved more than 27 thousand lives in Scotland.  But he went on to add, “despite that, there has been a significant increase in heart attacks and related illnesses since the covid-19 vaccinations started to be distributed in 2021.”

“To determine whether there is any connection with the COVID-19 roll-out, the government must conduct an immediate and complete scientific investigation, and ensure that the prescribed medical interventions of their response to coronavirus are indeed safe,” said Bonnar.

Sir Christopher Chope, who chairs the Covid-19 All-Party Parliamentary Group, said that the "government seems to be in denial about the risks of these vaccines.”

He said that the vaccine damage payment scheme is “not fit for purpose”, and said: “Many people now would not touch a booster with a bargepole, and I include myself among them.”

“I am not anti-vax—I had my first two vaccines—but from all that I have seen and know about this, the increase in boosters is counterproductive for many and dangerous for some,” he said.