The British government is expected to abandon the requirement for health and social workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, writes The Guardian.

Healthcare workers in England need to be fully vaccinated by 1 April, which means they need the first dose by this Thursday.

According to the current rules, if they are not vaccinated by April, they will be deployed or fired. About 77.000 such workers did not receive a single dose, and the Minister of Health Sajid Javid is under increasing pressure to repeal the rule.

There are concerns that the sector may be left with a huge staffing crisis due to the large number of workers refusing to be vaccinated.

British media reported that Javid will meet today with the ministers in the government commission for coronavirus operations, where he is expected to confirm the turnaround.

The media reports that the government is canceling their policy because omicron is milder than previous variants of the virus.

But it comes just a week after the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said it had no plans to change the policy, despite reports that ministers were considering delaying its implementation.

Javid said Tuesday that "the situation is under control" and that National Health Service (NHS) staff should view vaccination as a "professional duty".

The Tories welcomed the news of the expected turnaround, while some congratulated "those who had the courage to stand up for the values ​​of a free society".

Both the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have called for the deadline to be postponed, and the British Medical Association has called for an "urgent impact assessment" of how the policy will affect staffing.