Covid vaccine passport would join long list of mandatory jabs for Australians

Leading public health experts say we have been given mandatory vaccinations from birth and that opposition to a vaccine passport is ill-informed.

Australians up in arms about the possibility of a Covid vaccine passport only need to look at the lengthy list of mandatory children’s jabs to realise that the practice has ­always been the norm, leading experts say.

Public health experts said compulsory vaccinations had been a part of society for years, and feature commonly in ­policies around employment, childcare and international travel.

Epidemiologist and biostatistics expert Professor Adrian Esterman said he would be surprised if Australia didn’t go ahead with a vaccine passport given our existing policies, including the No Jab No Play scheme.

The federal government’s No Jab No Play immunisation initiative requires all children to complete their childhood immunisation for parents to be eligible for family assistance payments.

“They are already using this (Covid vaccine passport) system in France. It can’t be introduced here now because there isn’t a high enough number of people vaccinated, but in a couple of months, when we have a good chunk of the population vaccinated, I’d be surprised if we didn’t have this,” he said.

“Even joining the defence force requires you to be tested for HIV. We also have yellow fever certificates that are required for travel to many countries. This idea has been around for a long time.”

Professor Esterman, who used to work for the World Health Organisation, said it would help to give people the option of either having a ­vaccine passport or showing evidence that they were not Covid-positive.

“Vaccines are by and large relatively safe, and they rarely produce long-term adverse ­effects. I see nothing wrong with vaccine passports … having them provides a greater level of assurance for the rest of the community,” he said.

Central Coast mum, Rowena Davies, 35, and her two sons, Noah, 4, and Van, 10 months, who are up to date with their vaccinations. Picture: David Swift

University of Sydney Bioethics expert Dr Diego Silva said people often learnt to accept mandatory vaccinations because they didn’t want to jump through hoops to go against the grain.

“Childhood immunisation is a great example. There is a small subset of people who don’t want their kids vaccinated and end up homeschooling their kids. But most people are going to vaccinate their kids because otherwise their lives will turn upside down,” he said.

Central Coast mum Rowena Davies said she had no hesitations getting her children — Noah, 4, and 10-month-old Van — immunised against serious infectious diseases such as whooping cough and polio.

“I don’t judge anyone, but there’s risks with everything that we do in life and I think the positives of being immunised outweigh the risks,” the 35-year-old said.

“I was immunised as a child, and I think that we’re lucky to have that available to us to protect our kids from life-threatening diseases.”

She said the local clinic where she took her children to get immunised had always offered a positive experience.

Originally published as Covid vaccine passport would join long list of mandatory jabs for Australians