State Government to Review Vaccine Mandates for Health Workers Nearly 2 Years Later

A member of staff uses a needle and a phial of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to prepare a dose at a vaccination health centre in Cardiff, South Wales' on December 8, 2020. Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

The Queensland Labor government has announced it will review long-running vaccine mandates that have kept around 1,000 medical workers from entering the struggling public health system.

Introduced in late 2021, the state government has continued its tough stance on the jab across government sectors, notably in teaching, where unvaccinated educators had their pay cut for not complying with mandates.

On July 4, Queensland’s Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said a review was underway within the health sector.

“We are currently reviewing the COVID vaccination requirements for Queensland Health employees, following the advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) earlier this year,” Ms. Fentiman said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

The minister said healthcare workers were already required to keep up-to-date with their vaccinations.

“A number of strategies are in place to actively manage healthcare workers who are not vaccinated against COVID, including time-limited exemptions, return to work options, and alternative duties,” she said.

Queensland Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services and Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman (R) is seen during question time at Queensland Parliament House in Brisbane, Australia, on May 24, 2023. AAP Image/Darren England

Health System in Dire Need of Staff

The move comes just weeks after the state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that her government would be offering $70,000 cash bonuses (US$46,000) to try and lure doctors into the state’s regions and $20,000 for other health workers.

Under the Workforce Attraction Incentive Transfer Scheme, intrastate, interstate, or international doctors will receive $25,000 after three months if they commence work in a rural area and a further $25,000 after 12 months.

“With global competition for health workers at an all-time high, our government is dedicated to doing everything that we can to attract and retain frontline health workers,” the premier said in a statement.

A woman looks at a mural of a health worker with wings holding a globe on International Nurses Day in Melbourne on May 12, 2020. William West/AFP via Getty Images

In response to the review, former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said it was unnecessary and that the vaccine mandates simply had to be removed.

“The vaccine mandates have been a completely unnecessary move that breached the human rights and freedom of health workers,” he told The Epoch Times.

“I know a senior nurse at one of the major public hospitals, she and all her colleagues are quite concerned about being made to have vaccinations because they’re seeing too many people coming in with what they consider to be vaccine injuries,” he added.

Recognition of the negative side effects of vaccine injuries is now gaining traction, whereas previously, the topic was considered taboo.

Ousted Health Workers Still Struggling

Meanwhile, Jack McGuire, head of Red Union, an alternative union formed to assist workers ousted due to vaccine mandates, was critical of the Queensland government’s latest decision.

“It’s been two years now that all of these nurses have been stood down without pay,” he told The Epoch Times.

Red Union and its affiliate, the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland, have assisted dismissed health workers with legal challenges to the mandates.

“They‘d rather see them all sacked first, and then they’d review the vaccine mandates,” he said. “They are absolutely shooting themselves in the foot and making the chaotic Queensland Health system even more chaotic.”

Red Union’s membership saw its fastest growth during the pandemic years, with around 17,000 members. The group, however, has faced pressure from the Labor government—heavily supported by legacy unions—to stop its operation.

In October 2022, the government passed the Industrial Relations Amendment Bill, which tightens criteria for registering for new employee organisations, effectively side-lining Red Union and its affiliates.

“Changes provide protections against organisations and individuals who make false and misleading claims about being able to represent the industrial interests of employers and employees,” said Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace at the time.