Health staff face jab deadline

Thousands of healthcare workers will be placed on unpaid leave if they do not meet today’s mandatory vaccination deadline, as health officials consider moving doctors and nurses around the state to plug staff shortages.

With 94 per cent of NSW Health’s 140,000 staff having received at least one shot, Health Minister Brad Hazzard has said he had no intention to exempt any local health district or hospital from the operation of the rules.

According to a ‘‘frequently asked questions’’ document distributed to hospital staff, workers who do not provide evidence of having one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by today will be placed on unpaid leave until they produce evidence of vaccination or a medical exemption certificate.

Staff may be able to apply to access accrued leave entitlements for a short time to enable them to get vaccinated, the document read.

Pockets of health care staff remain unvaccinated throughout the state with two legal challenges to mandatory vaccination before the NSW courts: one brought by Riverina paramedic John Larter and another by aged care worker Natasha Henry in the Byron area.

Ninety-two per cent of staff at regional and rural local health districts have had their first dose and 84 per cent were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

Hazzard said any staff shortages caused by the mandate would be dealt with by drawing on nurses and doctors from other areas, rather than by granting an exemption for particular hospitals or areas, describing any health staff choosing to not be vaccinated against Covid-19 as ‘‘selfish’’.

‘‘If they want to put their patients and their colleagues at risk, well they won’t have a position,’’ he said.

It is not clear if this could include bringing in staff from the private sector, which has provided staff and bed space to public hospitals throughout the state’s outbreak. Ramsay Healthcare said 450 of its staff were working in the public health system but declined to say if they had been approached to provide additional support in October.

Under the public health order governing the mandate, the Health Minister has the power to grant exemptions for a person or class of persons if he is ‘‘satisfied it is necessary to protect the health and wellbeing of persons’’.

Individuals may also apply for an exemption on the basis of having a medical contraindication. The exemption requires a doctor’s authorisation.

The doctor can either certify a person has a medical contraindication to every available Covid-19 vaccine in Australia – at present, the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines – or authorise a temporary exemption for up to six months if the patient has an acute major illness, a significant immunocompromise of short duration or other temporary medical condition, or has been infected with Covid-19 within the past six months.

National vaccine advisory group ATAGI’s clinical guidance suggests vaccination can be deferred by up to six months after a positive test because past infection reduces someone’s risk of reinfection with the virus for ‘‘at least’’ that time period.

More than 600 healthcare workers and 200 aged care workers have tested positive to Covid-19 in NSW since mid-June, most in the community.

NSW recorded 15 deaths from Covid-19 yesterday, the state’s highest daily number during the latest outbreak. There were 863 new local cases reported.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state continued to have fewer hospitalisations than previously predicted, as the state’s double-dose vaccination rate climbs to 61.7 per cent.

‘‘If they want to put their patients and their colleagues at risk, well they won’t have a position.’’ Brad Hazzard NSW Health Minister