On the first point, doctors 'jumped the queue'. They were among the first to get it regardless of age.I can’t say for certainty but the vaccine was give out in age so do you know for sure that when it got to a 30 year old dr that it wasn’t known?
I 100% agree with you btw. At the time it was the right thing to do. I probably didn’t need it but it was the right thing to do to get it to protect my family etc.
However at the same time you saying they can’t use that as a defence now, you can’t really use the fact that 1 year ago we thought the vaccine may stop it spreading as a reason why someone now should get the vaccine surely?
I think everyone should get it. It would help reduce the hospitilisatios which will free up nhs to treat other sick people and cut waiting times. so I’m in no way trying to say they shouldn’t, but right now, ignoring the last 2 years, if someone started work tomorrow for the nhs, what’s the reasoning for them having to have the vaccine? You say risk to patients etc, but are they any more of s risk? As I say, we’re still testing and if you test positive you isolate if you’ve had the vaccine or not.
Be interesting to see if people that have had the vaccine are actually more lax when it comes to hygiene and covid now as well knowing they are better protected?
Your second point, I understand what you're saying but the virus is still here and just because the current variant produces mild symptoms doesn't mean that a nasty variant won't appear again at any time. The virus is here to stay one way or another and annual boosters will probably be a thing now like the flu jab.
I think if you want to work in the NHS then along with the hepatitis vaccines etc that you are required to have, for your own protection and everyone else's, then while we are in this deadly disease/Covid era, you should have to be vaccinated for the same reasons. It's a very small thing to do with the very best of intentions for doing so. The flu vaccine has a very low efficacy ( in 2015 it had 0% efficacy among the over 65's) because each year they do a best guess as to what goes in it based on the current variant but every year people are encouraged to have the flu vaccine and millions take it up. You could equally say why bother. We'll never know how many lives are saved with the flu vaccine and similarly with the Covid vaccines.
I realise that we agree mostly on this. We will have to agree to disagree on the NHS workers aspect of it.

