Mandating all aged care staff are vaccinated shifts the blame from the federal government’s failure to vaccinate staff to individual aged care workers. With high levels of vaccine hesitancy and low levels of supply of Pfizer, some staff will prefer to stop working in the age care sector rather than get vaccinated.
A better strategy would have been to provide incentives for staff to get vaccinated rather than punishment for not being vaccinated. The federal government could start with clear, evidence-based messages about the public health benefits of all Australians being vaccinated.
First published as a letter to The Age 30 June 2021