Australians warned workplace Covid-19 plan faces logistical hurdles

Aussies could get their Covid-19 jab at Bunnings or Officeworks but a plan for workplace vaccinations could be a long way off.

Covid-19 vaccines could be administered at local Bunnings or Officeworks under a suggestion raised at talks between the federal government and business leaders.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg met with 30 private sector bosses on Wednesday, the “first of a number” of similar rountables as the federal government moved to accelerate the national vaccine rollout.

All participants agreed to reach out to their workers and, in some cases, customers to encourage vaccine uptake, while the Minerals Council stressed its ability to reach out to remote Indigenous communities, Mr Frydenberg said.

“The commonwealth will work with the business community about that particular message … their advocacy about the importance of getting the jab is going to be vital,” he told reporters.

“It builds on the very extensive and co-operative, constructive business-government relationship we have had from day one of the pandemic.”

The Treasurer said there were “many offers” for premises where the vaccine could be administered, including one from Wesfarmers in which people would receive their jab at Bunnings or Officeworks.

Josh Frydenberg has held ‘extensive talks’ with business leaders on how the private sector can boost the vaccine rollout. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Lieutenant General John Frewen says GPs and state hubs will ‘remain the backbone’ of the national rollout Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Companies also held extensive discussions over possible incentives for vaccinations, including bonus frequent flyer points for airline customers.

“A number of businesses raised very interesting and exciting ideas about how they can put their resources to work,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“I think it is more than a snag at Bunnings that we are talking about as a potential opportunity for incentives.”

The business community has long offered to support the vaccine rollout in a bid to reduce damaging lockdowns.

Labor Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers accused the government of dragging its feet on dealing with the private sector, dismissing Wednesday’s announcement as “an elaborate blaming shifting exercise”.

“This is Team Australia, and the captain has gone missing ... If this conversation with business was so important, why did it take Josh Frydenberg 18 month to arrange it?” he said.

Mr Frydenberg insisted the government had engaged “from day one”, but Wednesday’s meeting was designed to ramp up business involvement as vaccines became more readily available, he said.

Doses would double to 600,00 per week by the next month, with two million weekly Pfizer doses expected by October, Mr Frydenberg said.

“As more supply comes on-board, businesses can play a greater role,” he said.

Covid-19 taskforce commander Lieutenant General John Frewen said a plan for vaccinations in the workplace, flagged this week, could be implemented later in the year as more mRNA vaccines became available.

“It will be really important for people to have a more diverse range of ways to access the vaccine. It will give us greater flexibility, it will give us greater choice and greater convenience,” he said.

But GPs and state hubs would “remain the backbone” of the national rollout, with vaccinations unlikely to occur in every workplace, General Frewen said.

The federal government is considering allowing Covid-19 vaccines to be administered in the workplace. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images

Australian Medical Association (AMA) vice-president Chris Moy said the model was feasible for the first time after storage requirements for the Pfizer jab were loosened and with supply set to increase.

Regular flu vaccines were already administered at many workplaces, but Dr Moy warned replicating the model for Covid-19 immunisations would not be as straightforward.

“It’s not like running through a place and just giving shots; there are going to be added layers of technical and administrative burden,” he told NCA NewsWire.

MRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna carried a minute risk of anaphylactic reactions, meaning anyone administering them would need adrenaline shots on hand.

Consent and recording requirements would need to be stringent, Dr Moy said.

Vaccination would also have to be accurately matched to each individual so that it could be recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register.

That would form proof of vaccination via a certificate or passport.

Dr Moy welcomed Wednesday’s talks but said the model should not be implemented without medical input.

AMA vice-president Chris Moy says GPs have ‘busted a gut’ to get Australia’s rollout this far.

He said GPs had carefully guided their patients and an anxious public through the critical early phases of the rollout, putting Australia roughly four million doses ahead of where it could have been as it faced the highly infectious Delta strain.

“GPs have busted a gut to get us this far; we’d have been naked without them,” he said.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Frydenberg said everybody had “a role to play” in the vaccine rollout, and the government and private sector were “engaged in the single, same task”.

General Frewen conceded vaccine supply remained the biggest impediment to workplace vaccinations while anxiety over the AstraZeneca vaccine was heightened.