See protest footage as Luton nurse expresses relief at Government vaccination u-turn

A Luton maternity nurse who led a 250-strong protest over the threat to unvaccinated NHS staff, said she was relieved after the Government u-turn on Monday.

Sally Jacobs, who has been in the NHS for 20 years, was one of more than 70,000 NHS staff nationwide facing the sack for refusing to have the Covid vaccination.

But less than a week after she led a Clap for the Sacked outside the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, the Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced there would be no mandatory requirement for NHS staff to be jabbed.

"It's like a weight off my shoulders," Sally said after the announcement. "It's one little battle but the war is not over."

Speaking before her campaign last week (more here), Sally aged 52, explained her reasons for not having the jab: "It's nothing to do with the jab, it's about bodily integrity," she said. "I'm not anti vaccination, I'm pro bodily integrity. I had Covid early on and I know that I have the antibodies, it gave me the confidence to go back to work."

She said part of her training was about allowing people to make informed choices about their own body. "If I gave people a jab without their consent it would be classed as assault.

"People are intelligent enough to assess the risks and this mandate is making people dig their heels in."

Around 250 people, including children, held a peaceful event on Lewsey Road last Thursday evening. "People were happy and clapping and motorists were honking their horns," she said. "It was a way of connecting with others."

And Sally, who fears there could be more attempts by Government to impose the vaccinations, is considering holding more campaigning events.

"For a long time I felt isolated, frightened and at times suicidal about the loss of career and income; finding others who have assessed their individual risk has helped me, so I want any others who are in the same boat to know they’re not alone," she said.

The chief executive of the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, David Carter, told a Luton Council scrutiny health and social care review group meeting last month that around 90% of the staff at the Trust had had the vaccinations.