Australia is set to announce a controversial ‘no jab, no pay’ policy for all health workers which could see thousands forced to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or lose their job.
Scott Morrison is preparing to set out the plan at Friday’s national cabinet meeting in a move that will see all states and territories fall under the same national structure.
But with recent violent protests over the issue of mandatory vaccinations, the decision is likely to be met with outrage from vocal Australia’s anti-vaxxer groups.
Scott Morrison is preparing to set out the plan at Friday’s national cabinet meeting in a move that will see all state’s and territories fall under the same national structure
Australia is set to announce a controversial ‘no jab, no pay’ policy for all health workers which could see thousands forced to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or lose their job
Under the new rules every worker within the vast health system would be required to follow the mandate, news.com.au reported.
This includes staff at public hospitals, ambulance services, private hospitals, GPs, private nurse offices and consulting offices.
Pharmacies and private pathology labs will also have to abide by the rules, as well as students who are studying to become doctors and nurses and have work placements.
Until now every state has set out their own guidelines for vaccination mandates among health staff.
The majority of states have already introduced deadlines for health workers to get the jab but Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory are still in the midst of drawing their policy.
New South Wales’ deadline for health workers to get their first dose ended on Thursday with over 5000 vital frontline staff set to be given the sack as early as tomorrow.
New South Wales’ deadline for health workers to get their first dose ended on Thursday with over 5000 vital frontline staff set to be given the sack as early as tomorrow. Pictured: Sydney health workers
NSW Health data shows about 6-7 per cent of all clinical health workers refused to get the jab with many of them in short-staffed regional areas.
NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Marianne Gale admitted there are now ‘real concerns’ about potential staff shortages and how they will be resolved.
‘Those pockets of people who may not be vaccinated, we are working through those issues,’ she told reporters.
‘We will make sure that services and care for patients is not disrupted.’
Drama over the issue also remains in Queensland with ‘any clinical or non-clinical staff member who works in or attends locations where patients are cared for’ must get double-dosed by October 31.
But at the moment about 10 per cent of staff remain unvaccinated.
‘We know this is critical, we require our health workers to get vaccinated for a range of immunisations and the flu, so this is not uncommon,’ Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.
‘This is about keeping them safe, their work colleagues safe, every patient and visitor that walks into their hospital and their own family members.’
Under the new rules every worker within the vast health system would be required to follow the mandate
While medical experts overwhelmingly support vaccine mandates for health workers, anti-vaxxer groups fuelled by unfounded online conspiracy theories are fiercely opposed to the measures.
Controversial backbencher George Christensen has stated ‘no jab no pay’ policies are equivalent to slavery and ‘apartheid’ era in Australia.
‘This is not an anti-vax thing. This is about freedom, and it’s about choice, and it’s about saying to both governments and corporations, you know what, we might be your employee but we’re not your chattel,’ he said in an online broadcast.
‘We’re no longer in a slave relationship where you can demand certain things be done with my body.
‘That’s ridiculous. That’s a sort of a view from yesteryear, and the whole rationale for mandating the jab in the workplace, it’s not fair.
‘The mandating, no jab no job rules all the rest of the vaccine discrimination and medical apartheid, certain politicians are proposing, it’s not borne out by the facts.’
Controversial backbencher George Christensen has stated ‘No jab no pay’ policies are equivalent to slavery and ‘apartheid’ era in Australia
One of Australia’s leading Cyber analysts, Ariel Bogle, says the anti-vaxxer movement has been able to amplify their message by using the fears of some healthcare workers.
‘Healthcare workers really occupy a position of trust and credibility in our society,’ Ms Bogle told the ABC.
‘Even a vocal minority of those [healthcare] voices is extremely useful to the anti-vaccine movement.
‘It helps create the perception that there is a debate among healthcare workers — between doctors, nurses — about the safety of vaccines when, in fact, there is no such real debate.’