Most workers support Covid-19 vaccination passports

Over 70 per cent of employees support the rollout of a vaccine passport, while less than a quarter believe employers should mandate vaccinations, new polling shows.

Over 70 per cent of workers support the rollout of a vaccine passport, while less than a quarter believe employers should mandate vaccinations for staff, new polling has revealed. Picture: iStock

More than 70 per cent of workers support the rollout of a vaccine passport, while less than a quarter believe employers should mandate vaccinations for staff, new polling has revealed.

The survey of 999 Australian employees by global HR software firm Employment Hero found overwhelming support for providing greater freedoms for fully vaccinated citizens, including almost 77 per cent in NSW.

A range of business groups has called for the use of vaccine certificates in Australia, but several ­Coalition MPs have voiced concerns about their requirement for interstate travel and attending venues and events.

The Employee Covid-19 Vaccination Sentiment Report found 71 per cent of employees surveyed support the use of green cards – already used in Israel and the EU. More than two-thirds felt vaccine passports were necessary to protect family health and get businesses operating again.

Only 16 per cent of surveyed workers said they were against the concept. Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are currently working on vaccine passport pilot programs and will deliver recommendations to nat­ional cabinet.

Under national cabinet’s vaccination road map – based on modelling conducted by the Doherty Institute – a 70 per cent threshold will see the use of lockdowns and hard border closures curtailed, with draconian restrictions almost disappearing once 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has already announced that travellers from Covid hotspots – a new “extreme high risk” category – will be required to show proof they have had at least one jab.

Six per cent of surveyed workers said they had been actively discouraged from getting the ­vaccine by their workplace. Employees in microbusinesses (two-nine staff) were 198 per cent more likely to report employers were pushing them not to get the jab.

More than half of Australian workers in the survey believed the federal government had mismanaged the vaccine rollout; 57 per cent of workers agreed the federal government vaccine messaging was confusing.

Moreover, more than 60 per cent of workers surveyed said their workplace had little influence on their decision to be vaccinated, with more than half saying their employer had never spoken to them about getting the vaccine. Only 22 per cent of those surveyed said employers should mandate vaccinations for staff.

Employment Hero chief executive Ben Thompson said ongoing uncertainty about staff vaccination meant employers were “terrified of doing the wrong thing”.

Of those who said they wouldn’t get vaccinated, 12 per cent said they were against the vaccine. More than a quarter were waiting for mRNA vaccines and 24 per cent said they were waiting until vaccines had been available for longer.