‘Restrictions did their job’: Qld to scrap vaccination mandate for pubs, cafes

Queensland’s vaccination mandate for most venues will be scrapped within a week, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced.

Queensland’s vaccination mandate for most venues – including pubs, cafes and restaurants – will be scrapped within a week, the premier has announced.

The controversial order, which has been in place since December, required people to show proof they were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 before entering venues across the state.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced the state’s vaccine mandates will no longer apply to a host of venues from next Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday announced the restrictions surrounding these orders would be further relaxed.

From 1am on April 14, venues once open to vaccinated staff and patrons will be open to everyone regardless of their vaccination status.

BREAKING: Queensland COVID-19 restrictions are easing further from 1am Thursday 14 April.

From then, most venues that have been open only to vaccinated staff and patrons will be open to everyone, regardless of vaccination status. pic.twitter.com/NrQblxOep6

— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) April 5, 2022

“The venues include: Pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants, theme parks, casinos and cinemas, weddings, showgrounds, galleries, libraries, museums and stadiums,” Ms Palaszczuk wrote on Twitter.

Vaccine requirements will still apply to visitors and workers in vulnerable settings.

These include hospitals, aged and disability care, prisons, schools and early childhood centres.

The announcement comes after the state recorded 9946 new cases on Tuesday.

Some 479 people are in hospital with 15 in intensive care.

Another eight deaths were recorded.

Ms Palaszczuk said the restrictions had served their purpose in slowing the spread of coronavirus while Queenslanders got vaccinated.

Queenslanders will no longer need to show proof they are fully vaccinated when trying to enter venues like pubs, clubs and cafes from 1am on April 14.

“More than 90 per cent of Queenslanders aged 12 and over have been fully vaccinated,” she said.

“The chief health officer advises we can now safely ease these settings and still maintain a high level of protection.

“The restrictions we had in place did their job, keeping our community safe and encouraging vaccinations.”

Chief health officer John Gerrard said there was “solid evidence” the state had passed its peak of transmission of the second Covid wave.

“Hospital admissions will lag a bit but I expect to see these fall sometime within the next seven days,” he said.

“It is clearly because of vaccination the impact of this virus on the Queensland community has been relatively mild.”

Dr Gerrard said the focus was now on high risk settings.

“This is likely to be the philosophy going forward around the world,” he said.