More than 500 care home workers in Oxfordshire are yet to receive their first Covid vaccination.

Fears are growing of a national staffing shortage with the deadline looming for all staff to get vaccinated.

Under a decision passed by MPs in July, all eligible staff must be double-jabbed by November 11 in an older adult care home in a bid to protect residents.

NHS figures show in Oxfordshire, 559 out of 6,128 eligible staff , including agency workers, at older adult care homes had not received a first dose by August 22.

However, that proportion has fallen slightly from mid-June, shortly after the legislation for mandatory vaccinations was announced, when 14 per cent were unvaccinated.

Nadra Ahmed, chief executive of the National Care Association, said she was 'extremely concerned' over the impact of unvaccinated workers being forced out of care homes, come the November deadline.

She said the industry was already struggling to fill 115,000 vacancies.

The Department of Health and Social Care estimates around seven per cent of the care industry workforce – around 40,000 workers – risk being lost as a result of making vaccination a condition of employment in care homes.

Social Care Working Group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) advised that 80 per cent of staff in a care home needed to have received a first vaccination jab to ensure a minimum level of protection against outbreaks.

In Oxfordshire, 90 per cent of care homes were achieving that target by August 22.

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