As the global rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine gathers pace, the healthcare industry continues to be in demand on an unprecedented scale. A pre-Covid shortage of nurses in the UK was only made worse by the pandemic, but even as serious Covid case numbers decline, the demand for qualified and skilled health professionals is only increasing.
This is why a specialised health industry recruitment agency will be so important in the post-Covid world.
Projected Nurse Numbers Not Enough
The Government is trying to increase the number of qualified nurses and health professionals, though a report by the Health Foundation already predicted that the Government would have to exceed its stated target of 50,000 new nurses in England by 2024 to enable just the NHS alone to fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
“There simply aren’t enough [qualified health professionals] to care safely for patients in hospitals, clinics, their own homes or anywhere else,” said Dame Donna Kinnair, the chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, in response to the Health Foundation’s Building the NHS Nursing Workforce in England report.
Vaccine Roll Out Continues
With nearly 65% of UK residents having received the second vaccine dose, the country still has some way to go before we can consider ourselves in a ‘post-Covid’ world. Another 6% have received the first dose only, as of 15 September 2021, so the number of fully vaccinated could rise to over 70% within the next few weeks.
That still leaves around 30% of the population without any vaccine which means the demand for qualified nurses and health professionals is not going to subside any time soon. In fact, the pre-Covid shortage of nurses only highlights exactly how in demand such skilled professional health workers are even without a pandemic.
The Our World in Data numbers show the United Arab Emirates to have the highest number of vaccinated residents, with 90% having received at least the first dose. Portugal has the highest number of fully vaccinated residents, with over 81%. Italy and France are doing similar numbers to the UK, though both have a slightly higher percentage of vaccinated people at around 73%.
The United States is trailing most European nations with only just over 53% of residents having received the second dose of the vaccine. A further 9% have received the first dose, but their numbers of fully vaccinated are not rising as quickly as other nations.
Types of COVID-19 Vaccine
There are four Covid-19 vaccines currently approved for use in the UK. They include the Moderna vaccine, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Later this year, the Janssen vaccine will also be available.
The NHS is also offering a booster vaccine dose to the fully vaccinated people who are most at risk from Covid-19 symptoms. The booster dose will provide a longer-term protection against getting seriously ill from the virus.
If you have a nursing role to fill, or you are looking for a new opportunity in nursing, get in touch with Health Recruit Network, and let our experts do the rest.