Anne McMillanFriday 19 March 2021
Vaccine programmes being rolled out around the world have provided hope for many, but are causing concern and opposition among others.
Global Insight assesses how governments and medical authorities should respond and whether compulsory vaccination is the answer. Vaccination against Covid-19 is seen as a route back to normality, an escape from the current restrictions which mean we can’t shake hands, hug loved ones or travel freely. For some people, vaccination promises release from the fear the virus may strike them, a relative or a friend, hope of reinvigorating a moribund livelihood or resuming a child’s disrupted education.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared we have beaten the third wave of COVID-19 as he revealed for the first time whether high risk groups including aged care workers face mandatory jabs. Despite the deadly risk of COVID-19 taking hold in the nation s nursing homes the Prime Minister has confirmed the states have agreed it won t be illegal to work in aged care without being vaccinated. At this point they re not recommending that that be the case, the Prime Minister said. But that doesn t mean no jab, no job rules won t be invoked by some of the big providers in work contracts, with the Morrison Government effectively leaving it up to employers to work through the issues.