Mandatory jabs could ‘radicalise’ anti-vax advocates, experts warn

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The imposition of mandatory vaccinations is expected to grow. State and federal governments and some businesses have already mandated vaccination for workers in sectors including aged care, health and quarantine. In Victoria, the directions were issued by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, who also required the vaccination of construction workers.

Those directions are powerful, with limited legal challenges available, but employers and unions are also grappling with mandatory vaccination for workplaces not subject to health orders, where the legal position is less clear. The federal government says vaccination should be voluntary, arguing the issue of whether to mandate is up to individual businesses, taking into account workplace safety, anti-discrimination and privacy laws.

Most unions encourage vaccination but baulk at supporting mandatory jabs, although some such as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation are comfortable with mandates.

Apart from the legal issues, some experts say the mandatory approach is misguided. Liberty Victoria president Julia Kretzenbacher said promoting vaccine passports is better than forcing people to get vaccinated “because it respects people’s choice”, as long as access to government services or fundamental needs or groceries were not limited.

Ms Kretzenbacher noted that while there were some workplaces where the use of a mandate is “proportionate to human rights” – such as in aged care or prisons – the government should instead boost funds to grassroots organisations that could help counter misinformation about vaccination.

“It’s easy to demonise people who feel vaccine hesitancy, but that doesn’t resolve the issue of vaccine hesitancy,” said the Melbourne-based barrister.

The notion of linking vaccination rates to certain freedoms has also raised the prospect that more people could end up seeking medical exemptions to avoid immunisation.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Karen Price said there had been a steady stream of people requesting exemptions from vaccination, but she expected this to increase when it gets closer to the point that some freedoms and access to jobs and services will only be offered to those who are fully vaccinated.

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The Melbourne GP said it was “vanishingly rare” for people to have a genuine medical reason that would mean they could not safely receive any of the available coronavirus vaccines in Australia.

However, Dr Price said mandating vaccines was an ethically and legally challenging issue, fuelled by hesitancy, misinformation, and in some cases, people who simply wanted to be “uncooperative and don’t like the idea that it’s mandated”.

“But, you know, we don’t drive on the other side of the road because we want to. There is a level of co-operation we need in our society,” she said.

GPs and pharmacists say this week’s protests were not indicative of their experiences.

Pharmacy Guild state president Anthony Tassone said his pharmacy was booked out last Saturday “and most of our patients were tradespeople, many of whom were not initially intending on getting the COVID vaccination but rolled up to the pharmacy with minimum fuss”.

Bentleigh GP Nathan Pinskier said that when the vaccine rollout began six months ago, some of his patients were concerned about potential side effects of getting jabbed, but “most people now are reasonably comfortable” and his clinics were often “booked out solid”.

“Anti-vaxxers are in the minority – they’re just getting a lot of oxygen at the moment,” Dr Pinskier said.

Across town in Melbourne’s west, 40-year-old Daniel Matcham is one among many Victorians who have recently had a change of heart.

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The sense that COVID vaccination would eventually be made mandatory in his industry was one of the many reasons he ended up deciding to have his first jab last month.

The father of five became eligible in the early stages of the vaccine rollout because he has diabetes, but the warehouse worker and chef decided to wait.

By the time he got his first shot on August 28, his neighbourhood of Truganina in Melbourne’s outer west had become a COVID hotspot. Al-Taqwa College, which was at the centre of a significant community outbreak, was just around the corner and he and his family kept on being caught up in exposure sites.

After receiving his second jab at a Hoppers Crossing clinic on Tuesday, Mr Matcham said he felt relieved.

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“I just want to get away camping or up the river, anything to get the family out of the home,” he said.

“To get our freedom back.”

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