Why you could be BANNED from work for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine as doctors warn Australia against 'pressing the red emergency button' and rushing the rollout to stop new outbreaks of coronavirus
Australian businesses are calling for the right to ban workers if they refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine as doctors warn against rushing the rollout to prevent new outbreaks which have resulted in more border restrictions.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly on Wednesday revealed Australia will likely have two vaccines to distribute in March, sparking debate over how it is done and who should be immunised first.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has implored Scott Morrison to grant Australians access in January when the vaccinations are expected to be approved by authorities.
And while unions have urged the government to vaccinate frontline workers before the wider community, small businesses are demanding the legal ability to stand down employees without pay if they do not get the jab.
While unions have urged the government to vaccinate frontline workers before the wider community, small businesses are demanding the legal ability to stand down employees without pay if they do not get the jab (Pictured: A woman in Sydney's CBD)
Employers are calling on the government to have the legal ability to stand down workers who refuse to be vaccinated
Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chief executive Peter Strong said bosses and employees will be left vulnerable if co-workers turn down the vaccination.
'If you've got four employees and one of them doesn't get vaccinated and the other three say, 'I'm not working with that person', what do you do?' Mr Strong told The Australian.
'It leaves employers between a rock and a hard place. That's the dilemma we've got. The other dilemma is there are a lot of small business people out there. Some of them might decline the vaccine. Where does the worker go?
'That's an issue we have got to talk about as well. We have got to have black-and-white law here so if someone declines the vaccine we can stand them down.
Small businesses say the government should implement guidance issued by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which allows employers to require their workers get vaccinated or bar them from working if they refuse.
Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter said the government is still assessing employer and worker obligations in relation to the vaccine but will make relevant announcements as decisions are reached.
As industries struggling amid the pandemic compete for access, Mr Albanese is pushing for the federal government to secure more doses of the vaccine so the country can vaccinate residents at a faster rate.
Australia will likely have two vaccines to roll out in March, with front line healthcare workers to be prioritised, followed by those over 70 and the 65-69 age bracket
He questioned why officials would wait until March to begin administering vaccines if they have been green light by health personnel months earlier.
The opposition leader said the logic behind waiting for a set date after approval has been given is nonsensical after the US, UK and Europe fast tracked their vaccines.
But Jodie McVernon, director of epidemiology at Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, said there was no need to implement the vaccine before schedule.
'I don't think we need to press the red emergency button right now,' Professor McVernon told The Australian.
'We are not in the same universe as the countries that have done that. There would have to be a significant tipping point for the commonwealth and the regulator to decide we were at an emergency usage stage.'
'I am very heartened by the faith the NSW government has in its system and its measured and proportional response to what has happened on the northern beaches.'
Anthony Albanese said coronavirus vaccines should be rolled out earlier than March if approved by authorities
Professor Kelly said three vaccines have been or will soon be approved in other countries and Australia has access to two of them.
The three jabs have been made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna and Australia has deals to get hold of a combined 68.3million doses but none from Moderna.
The vaccines, which all require two injections three weeks apart, are expected to be approved by Australian regulators in late January and rolled out in March.
ACTU assistant secretary Liam O'Brien said essential workers, including health workers, hotel quarantine, aged care and retail workers, have bore the brunt of the crisis and should be vaccinated first as they are most at risk.
Professor Kelly said everyone who wants one should be able to get a jab before the end of next year but there will be a queue with the elderly and health workers prioritised.
The three jabs have been made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna and Australia has deals to get hold of a combined 68.3million doses but none from Moderna
He warned that the vaccines reduce symptoms but do not stop transmission, meaning international travellers will likely remain locked out even if they have had a jab.
Front line healthcare workers will be prioritised, followed by those over 70 and the 65-69 age bracket. The rest of the nation will be divided into five-year increment age groups.
This means Australians in their 20s hoping to travel overseas will likely have to wait until the end of next year to get the vaccine, according to News Corp.
Qantas announced last month that passengers must show proof they've been vaccinated before being allowed to fly internationally.
There likely won't be any under-18-year-olds receiving the jab at all in 2021 as pharmaceutical companies aren't looking for approval in younger Australians because they are a less at risk.
The exact order of immunisation for certain age groups won't be revealed by the Federal Government until late January.
New South Wales reported seven new locally-acquired cases of coronavirus on Christmas Day after almost 70,000 people got tested for the disease on Thursday.
Four are linked to the Avalon cluster, two cases are household contacts of a previous case, whose source of infection is still under investigation, and one further case is under investigation.
NSW's latest outbreak now sits at 118 total cases, 108 of which are associated with the Avalon cluster.
WHICH VACCINES HAS AUSTRALIA SECURED?
Pfizer:
Due to arrive early 2021, but is already being rolled out in the UK and has been approved for use in Canada.
Australia secured a deal for 10 million doses, if it proves safe and effective and is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Each person would need two doses, meaning Australia's initial order would only cover five million Australians.
Novavax:
Australia initially ordered 40 million doses. An extra 11 million doses were ordered on Friday, taking the total to 51 million.
University of Oxford:
There have been 33.8 million doses secured for Australia. Some 20 million more doses have now been ordered, taking the total to 53.8 million.
University of Queensland:
Australia had ordered 51 million doses. However, the deal has been scrapped after trial participants returned false positive results for HIV.