Covid Australia: Woolworths drops mandatory vaccines amid staff shortages
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Woolworths no longer requires workers to be vaccinated as major supermarket chain scales back Covid rules.
The retailer announced this week that staff who remain unvaccinated will be invited to reapply to the company for the first time in more than a year.
Woolworths said following an assessment of the pandemic response, staff are “strongly recommended” to get vaccinated, rather than being required.
Other Covid protocols, such as plastic screens between self-service checkouts and physical distancing stickers, will also be removed from stores.
Woolworths no longer requires its employees to be vaccinated as major supermarket chain scales back Covid rules (pictured, a Woolworths employee in Sydney)
Woolworths first announced a vaccine mandate for employees in stores, distribution centers and offices more than a year ago, in October 2021 (pictured shows a Sydney woman being vaccinated)
Woolworths first announced a vaccine mandate for employees in stores, distribution centers and offices more than a year ago, in October 2021.
Workers could apply for an exemption on medical or religious grounds, while customers in stores were not required to be completely stung.
The supermarket is one of the first major retailers in Australia to withdraw the mandate.
“High community-wide vaccination coverage has played a vital role in Australia’s fight against Covid, reducing the severity of infections and bringing about a return to greater freedoms with the continued easing of restrictions,” said Dr Rob McCartney, Chief Medical Officer of Woolworths Group.
“Our team’s vaccination requirement was designed to respond to the health risks during an acute period of the pandemic, but we recently assessed whether it is still necessary in light of high vaccination rates across the community and the evolution in how we now living with Covid. ‘
Disinfecting hand gel and disinfecting wipes will remain at the entrance of the shops.
The supermarket is one of Australia’s first major retailers to withdraw the vaccine mandate (pictured, customers walk past a Woolworths store in Sydney)
A spokesman for Coles told Daily Mail Australia the supermarket chain has made no changes to its Covid vaccination policy.
“Coles is regularly reviewing Covid controls, including cough screens and vaccination requirements, taking into account expert advice, case numbers and consultation with our team members,” they said.
“Coles has not made any changes to Covid controls at this time and we continue to encourage our clients and team members to maintain Covid Safe behaviour.”
The vaccine mandate changes come amid a surge in Covid cases as Australia experiences a fourth wave of new infections just weeks before the holiday season.
Cases increased dramatically across the country, with some states recording an 80 percent increase as several Covid variants run rampant.
Australian entrepreneurs have struggled to find staff since Australia’s borders closed at the start of the Covid pandemic.
Australian entrepreneurs have struggled to find staff since Australian borders closed at the start of the Covid pandemic (pictured, shoppers at Woolworths in Sydney)
Nearly a third of all industries face labor shortages and 301,000 jobs are at risk as the economy recovers from international border closures.
A 2022 Skills Priority List Key Findings report found that only 0.4 percent of bosses increased wages to fill vacancies, compared to 67 percent who chose to continue advertising in the same areas.
Hardest hit is nursing, with 9,266 job openings, according to a National Skills Commission report released Thursday before a state and federal jobs meeting.
The nurse shortage is followed by computer programming (7,841 vacancies), elderly and disabled care (5,101), and construction managers (4,948).
Childcare workers, auto mechanics, store managers, chefs, business analysts and metalworkers make up the rest of the top 10 most in-demand occupations.
The shortage of skilled workers spanned 286 occupations as the country looked to other countries to fill our hundreds of thousands of job openings.
A spokesman for Coles told Daily Mail Australia the supermarket chain has made no changes to its Covid vaccination policy (pictured, a Woolworths shopper in Singleton)
BA.5, BA.2.75, XBB and BQ.1 are among the strains that circulate in the community, causing infections and evading immunity to vaccinations and previous infections.
Some health experts called for the reintroduction of restrictions, such as face mask mandates, and expressed concern that more drastic measures, such as lockdowns, could return.
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly dismissed concerns by saying it was ‘unlikely’ that the lockdown would return, no matter how high the number of cases rose.
“My advice at the moment is to be alert but not afraid, I think it’s a good way to look at it,” he said.
“This is a time to consider whether you should get a vaccine, go get what you qualify for and if you’re in the higher risk groups, make sure you have a plan to get antiviral treatment if you do get infected.” touch. ‘