The path of gentle jabs that leads back to normal life
In only five weeks NSW may reach the target of 70 per cent vaccinated, according to federal health officials. Even if that proves too optimistic a forecast, two factors explain the welcome uptake of Covid jabs in our two most populous cities, Sydney and Melbourne. First, the more infectious Delta variant of the virus and its apparently greater risk to the young have focused minds on self-protection and the public health benefit. Second, the official rehabilitation of AstraZeneca as safe and effective is having the desired result, including among young people unable to secure the Pfizer vaccine. (although Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young unhelpfully continues to contradict this pragmatic advice, despite a significant outbreak in her state’s southeast).
As access to the jab gets easier, the debate about vaccination mandates is opening up. On Monday, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said: “For the first time, employers are able to give careful consideration as to whether or not it is reasonable in the circumstances of their businesses and their employees to mandate vaccinations.” Ai Group and other peak business groups are looking for government to take a lead with public health powers and to ensure consistent rules.
Nobody suggests that a mandate should apply to the population at large. Principles of consent, autonomy and liberty are important in a democratic society. Applying pressure can be counter-productive and harm the trust on which future public health policy depends. Even so, it is time to begin talks about which workforce sectors might warrant a vaccination mandate, while not forgetting that politicians and health officials still have plenty of work to do in crafting a clearer and more consistent message about the imperative to get vaccinated. This is a task of persuasion, not compulsion, directed to each citizen’s sense of personal responsibility to protect self, family, neighbours and thereby the community at large. The message should be to look at the big picture with its relative risks, reminding people, for example, that the extremely rare blood clot side effect of AstraZeneca is offset by its power to prevent multiple health threats, including blood clots, posed by Covid-19 itself.
In the same way, an open and informed weighing of cost and benefit should guide the debate over vaccination mandates in institutions and workplaces. Few would take issue with the June decision of national cabinet that all those who work in aged care be vaccinated. Commercial airline travel is another area of high risk and it makes sense to require aircrew to be immunised. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce would go further, requiring all aviation workers to get the jab. He’s certainly correct that a consistent national approach will be necessary.
The health sector in general is an obvious area where the pros and cons of mandating vaccination need to be carefully considered. In Italy, the government requires health workers, including pharmacists, to be vaccinated. This followed clusters of Covid infection in hospitals linked to unvaccinated staff. Britain will make vaccination mandatory for home-care staff and is considering whether to apply this to National Health Service staff. France, in its fourth wave of the pandemic, has mandated vaccination for healthcare workers. There have been demonstrations; the French have one of the world’s highest rates of vaccine hesitancy. Australia already has a form of mandatory vaccination whereby parents who fail to get the standard jabs for their children – against diphtheria and measles, for example – lose some of the family tax rebate. There seems to be agreement among legal commentators that federal and state governments have ample powers to underpin sensibly targeted vaccination mandates where infection risk is high and vulnerable groups need to be protected.
The next level for risk after healthcare would be restaurants, cinemas, pubs and cafes where people are close together indoors. These are not only workplaces to protect but forms of convivial entertainment sorely missed by people in lockdown. Here’s an incentive for leaders to use: the promise of a rekindled social life if people get vaccinated in large enough numbers. In the UK, Brits have been debating whether to require “vaccine passports” for entry to their warm-beer pubs. Wherever possible, it’s better to use carrots rather than sticks. Scott Morrison’s instinct was the right one last month when he cheered a Melbourne pub offering free drinks for the vaccinated.
We should resist the gloomy self-lacerating spirit on display in some media outlets. Like other countries, Australia has had a chequered record as we try to contend with Covid-19. Of course, we have to analyse our mistakes to learn from them, but neither should we overlook that ours is one of the most fortunate and well-placed countries in which to weather a pandemic.