Workers accept compulsory vaccination and regular testing as part of future workplace: study

A majority of employees support the controversial plan for compulsory vaccinations in the workplace, it’s been revealed.

Australia’s employees strongly back mandatory vaccination and regular testing for Covid-19 in the workplace. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Employees strongly back mandatory vaccination and regular testing for Covid-19 in the workplace.

Almost three in four employees support compulsory vaccination in their workplace once all Australians have had the opportunity to be vaccinated, a survey from the Melbourne Institute finds. And 68 per cent support regular testing.

Support was higher on both ­issues in the most Covid-affected states of New South Wales and Victoria, and lower in South Australia and Western Australia.

The Melbourne Institute chose the question as debate around Covid-19 shifts towards hitting the 70 and 80 per cent vaccination targets the ­national cabinet has deemed necessary to move to the next stage of opening up the nation and avoiding intermittent lockdowns.

“There have been a number of employers starting to propose the idea of having their employees vaccinated as a condition of work, and the idea of regular workplace testing is also being discussed,” Melbourne Institute researcher Guay Lim said. “We weren’t sure if staff would be willing to accept this though, given reports of vaccine hesitancy, so we were quite surprised when the data showed there was quite strong support.

“The data shows that employers don’t need to feel reticent about imposing vaccination on their staff, or insisting they are regularly tested for Covid.”