UK COVID-19 inquiry|8 Jul 2025
Christina McAnea. General Secretary, UNISON.
Introduction
Christine McAnea has been the General Secretary of UNISON since January 2021 and the the first woman to head the UK’s largest union. It has a total of 1.3 million members and is the UK’s largest healthcare trade union.
Not mentioned during oral evidence.
‘‘There were concerns due to the unproven nature of the vaccines, ethical concerns that the Government was mandating that workers must be injected, fear that the vaccine might be a masking agent for nefarious purposes (such as 'tracking' nanobots) and cultural and historical concerns such as those surrounding the MMR vaccine and the Tuskegee study.’’
-Paragraph 59 of statement
First-hand account from care worker:
‘‘I too had reservations about the vaccine. My reluctance stemmed from my recent experience with asymptomatic Covid-19, which was detected through a routine PCR test. Despite having had the virus, I was still mandated to receive the vaccine..
.. and unfortunately i fell ill after receiving the jab.’’
-Paragraph 97.2
Testimony highlights
COVID ‘vaccination’ as a condition of deployment.
‘We had HUGE reservations about going down the route of compulsory vaccination for a number of reasons and these were not taken seriously by the government.’’
‘‘I think it sent out entirely the wrong message.’
Statement highlights
‘‘The issue of vaccination as a condition of deployment was divisive, with many union members having different opinions on the proposed policy. The TUC's view was that everyone who can have the vaccine should, and that care users must be protected. However, mandatory vaccination was the wrong approach to achieve these outcomes.’’
‘‘One member's view on mandatory vaccination: "I don't think it is the business of employers to pressure staff into taken them [vaccines]. Companies shouldn't police people's personal lives and [their decisions] shouldn't affect our ability to make a living.... And I can understand historical concerns from our communities, where there's been a misuse of these things. You look at America, going back to the 1940s and 1950s where racist doctors and white supremacists' organisations were testing this on the black populations."
-Paragraph 59
‘‘GMB received reports of carers being taken off the rota for refusing vaccination.’’
-Paragraph 60
‘‘GMB carried out a survey of social care workers in May 2021. Of the 727 surveyed, over 46% did not agree with mandatory vaccination for workers in adult social care homes. However, despite union responses to the consultation, the Government decided to introduce the policy.’’
-Paragraph 61
‘‘The Welsh Government did listen and it was never implemented. However, some social care providers who worked across England and Wales still required vaccination as company policy.’’
-Paragraph 65
‘‘Widen the visa extension scheme in any future pandemic. The use of automatic free visa extensions during the pandemic was welcome, but should be broadened in a future pandemic to cover the whole of the NHS and social care workforce so that the least well-paid workers are also covered.’’
-Paragraph 92.28
—First-hand accounts from care workers—
‘‘Covid stopped all activities in the home - coffee mornings and bowling cancelled; stopped going out for lunch. You could physically see the mental anxiety and decline of your service users.’’
‘‘During all of this no-one saw anything of their family. I myself had at that time a grandad of 90 and my Mum, both of whom had health issues. I was unable to visit or see either of them for nearly two months. I have now lost both my Pops and Mum. I will never get those months back.’’
-Paragraph 97.1
‘‘The issue of mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations became a significant point of contention within our staff. Many were understandably unhappy about being compelled to receive the vaccine, leading to a "No Jab, No Job" stance, which prompted some carers to resign. I empathized with their concerns because I, too had reservations about the vaccine. My reluctance stemmed from my recent experience with asymptomatic Covid-19, which was detected through a routine PCR test. Despite having had the virus, I was still mandated to receive the vaccine and unfortunately i fell ill after receiving the jab.’’
-Paragraph 97.2
‘‘Our death rate hit 30 residents, devastating for us and the families concerned. We utilised our PPE, we had strict infection control measures in place but it still spread.’’
-Paragraph 97.3
‘‘Early on in the pandemic, before we were doing weekly covid testing, one of our residents passed away. It was obvious to me that he died from covid. His deterioration was very fast over the course of one week and was consistent with the way I'd seen other people die from covid. Covid was not on his death certificate.’’
-Paragraph 97.6
‘‘When the vaccine was announced, I was really concerned because I researched it and found out it could cause blood clots. I have a family history of blood clots and members of my family have died as a result. When the vaccine became mandatory for people in my profession, i was dismayed. i felt all my agency and bodily autonomy was being taken away. It created an awful tension at work because there was a lot of pressure to get the vaccine. Many of my colleagues were also worried, but they all ended up getting the vaccine. I really thought it was morally wrong and potentially dangerous. I was dismissed because of my refusal to have the vaccine i had a breakdown.’’
-Paragraph 97.7
‘‘We were told we had to have the vaccination otherwise our job could be at risk."
-Paragraph 97.8
‘‘Families were not allowed to come in when their family members were dying. They had to watch us holding their loved-ones hand through a window.’’
-Paragraph 97.10
Thanks for your attention.
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End
Care homes lost some of their best staff, the ones who made informed choices and refused the jabs. Consequently the residents also lost good carers and the homes became even more short staffed.