Jabs for publicfacing workers
Let them jump queue
WORKERS at the coalface of the Covid-19 crisis should be fast-tracked for vaccinations based on their occupation.
Business owners and industry leaders are pleading for the redefinition of “frontline workers” to allow retail workers, teachers, taxi drivers and others with no choice but to work through the pandemic to jump the queue for jabs.
Currently, workers prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines are those in healthcare, aged care, disability care, meat processing, defence, police, fire, and emergency services.
But business groups want this expanded to include those roles where contact with the public can’t be avoided.
In May, Victoria allowed public transport, taxi and Uber drivers to be vaccinated as part of what it dubbed “priority workers”, and this week the NSW government announced teachers in the Fairfield, Canterbury Bankstown and Liverpool local government areas would be moved to the top of the list in a desperate bid to stop the surge in Covid-19 cases in southwest Sydney.
The president of the Australian Education Union Correna Haythorpe said teachers – in schools, early childhood settings and TAFEs – should be prioritised nationally.
“There have been thousands of families in lockdown due to Covid-19 transmission in schools, including the families of teachers, principals and education support staff,” Ms Haythorpe said.
Retail and fast food union SDA’s NSW secretary Bernie Smith called for retail workers to be added to the priority list.
Mr Smith said he was “furious” to see priority vaccinations given to teachers in the three Sydney LGAs but not retail workers. “To ignore retail and fast-food workers is disgraceful and unconscionable,” he said.
Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra agreed retail workers should be prioritised.
“These workers have often performed their roles at some personal risk and under the most challenging of circumstances,” Mr Zahra said.
Taxi, limousine and rideshare drivers should be at the front of the queue, too, according to Australian Taxi Drivers Association president Michael Jools and Uber Australia and New Zealand head of trust and safety Sean McIntyre.
Hairdressers Grace and Marylee Gallo have been running their salon, Do or Dye, for 13 years but the latest lockdown has forced them to clear their appointment book.
Grace Gallo said the shutdown had been a “major issue” for them and she would support hairdressers being prioritised for the vaccine.