Covid-19 Toowoomba: Number of Darling Downs Health staff unvaccinated

As Covid-19 cases multiply, our hospitals continue to redeploy unvaccinated workers. Here is the full number of unvaccinated healthcare staff working still in the ranks of Darling Downs Health.

Despite there being almost 100 healthcare staff on the Darling Downs yet to be vaccinated, Queensland Health maintains the health district has been “minimally impacted”.

As of January 17, of the 6636 employees at Darling Downs Health, 214 staff members have no vaccination records and 123 are currently on leave.

It leaves 91 people who are in scope of the directive, working each day but have not provided a record of their Covid-19 vaccination.

Exteriors of the Toowoomba Hospital. Picture: David Clark

There have been 82 declined vaccine exemption requests, and only 15 have been approved.

Less than five per cent of the total healthcare workforce in Queensland remain unvaccinated.

Queensland Health said they are continuing to work with staff who have applied for an exemption and received one in order to find alternative arrangements.

“Service continuity across our Hospital and Health Services has been minimally impacted by the transition to mandatory vaccination for our staff,” a Queensland Health spokesman said.

“While this is being worked through, these staff will not be in the workplace.”

As of December 21, 102 were yet to provide record of the vaccination.

Queensland Health has painted a potentially bleak outlook of the region’s Covid-19 spread, and what is to come.

As the Omicron strain of the coronavirus continues to spread, health authorities anticipate about 50 per cent of the city’s population, about 85,000 people, could ultimately contract the virus.