'Vaccine fatigue' blamed for drop in NHS staff uptake of flu jab

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust held a board meeting on Thursday

Vaccine "fatigue" has been blamed for a drop in flu jab uptake among NHS workers at a Nottinghamshire trust.

Fewer than three in five workers at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust got the flu vaccine this winter, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Health bosses said that staff having already had multiple jabs was one of the "main reasons" for the drop.

The national NHS flu vaccination target is 80% but only 43% of workers got it.

Vaccine fatigue has also been cited as a reason the rate of administered flu vaccines was dropping nationally, the LDRS said.

All frontline healthcare and social workers are eligible for the flu vaccine through their employer, according to the LDRS which said it was recommended that people get the vaccine annually as it is updated depending on which strains are most prevalent.

'Multiple vaccines'

At the trust, which runs King's Mill Hospital, Newark Hospital, and Mansfield Community Hospital, fewer than 59% of healthcare staff got the jab - down from 62% in 2023.

Members of the trust's board heard on Thursday that research is being carried out into the growing hesitancy.

Robert Simcox, director of people, said: "One of the main reasons we've found is vaccine fatigue.

"People have had multiple vaccines before and felt unwell, whether it's groggy, tired or sore arms."

He added that accessibility was "also a challenge" and said vaccinations were easier for people to get during the pandemic.

"We need to increase the opportunities for staff to have it any time of day in their place of work," he said.

The LDRS said the meeting was told that the past two flu seasons had been very mild, which may be leading to complacency.

Claire Ward, chair of the board, said: "Healthcare workers should be more receptive to arguments about the importance of vaccination and the bigger public issues.

"We need to communicate the importance, and hopefully it doesn't take a bad winter to increase the uptake."