Less than a quarter of Western Australia's residential aged care workforce is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, sparking fears of staff shortages when inoculation becomes mandatory in mid-September.
Mr Olson said the government should consider incentives for workers to be vaccinated, and also roll out vaccines in the workplace to make it as easy as possible for workers to get the shot.
"All states and territories will work toward implementing this decision using state public health orders or similar state and territory instruments, and will provide an indication of timing when it is available," he said.But Health Services Union of Western Australia Secretary Naomi McCrae said it was still unclear how the mandate would be implemented.
Council On The Ageing WA chief executive Christine Allen said she had been told up to 30 per cent of aged care staff had indicated they would resign from their job rather than be forced to get vaccinated. Ms Allen says anyone who enters aged care facilities should be vaccinated, whether they are staff or visitors."If we are truly going to protect the residents of aged care, then surely everybody needs to be vaccinated."
"In addition, residential aged care providers are delivering their own vaccination clinics for workers through a Request for Tender process. WA Health data showed 61 per cent had received one dose of a vaccine, while just 50 per cent had been fully immunised.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Think less air travel during COVID might have helped the planet? Think againKey signs of climate change's impact on Earth have worsened over the past two years according to scientists, despite many industries grinding to a halt in the pandemic.
Read more »
‘Beacon of hope’: Whole nation jabbed in just a weekIn the extraordinary vaccination effort, health workers even trekked for days through landslides and pouring rain to reach extremely remote villages atop steep mountains to administer doses.
Read more »
COVID-19 VACCINE: More than 16pc of over 16s fully vaccinatedMore than five months since the beginning of the vaccine rollout all Commonwealth aged care facilities have received both doses of the COVID-19 jab.
Read more »
Andrews flags full freedoms may not be granted until vaccination rate picks up
Read more »
Calls ramp up for $10m vaccine lottery to fix slow rolloutCalls for a lottery to encourage Australians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are ramping up in an attempt to help fix the country&x27;s slow rollout.
Read more »
Border communities adjust to life outside the bubble as Andrews tightens rulesThousands of NSW residents will be excluded from a border bubble with Victoria as the Andrews government moves to prevent coronavirus from spilling over the state line, writes regional editor bpreiss | coronavirus borders
Read more »