Italy and France have established COVID-19 green passes that are mandatory for many leisure activities, including attending theatre and dining at indoor restaurants, a move that could show the way forward for workplaces in ANZ, with green passes integrated into access control rules.
A challenge in professional environments in Australia is low uptake of vaccines, low efficacy of existing vaccines to the Delta variant, low availability of vaccines and the increasing prevalence of infections occurring in the workplace.
Italy has reported its digital or printed health pass would be necessary for accessing a range of everyday leisure activities, from theatres to indoor dining – the same policy could be implemented by organisations to ensure team members receive vaccinations, or to ensure all contractors attending a site have been vaccinated.
So far only Italy and France have been prepared to mandate a COVID-19 vaccination pass, but evidence argues the policy would be a health and safety win – in the United States only 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths registered in May occurred in vaccinated patients – that’s just 0.83 per cent of total deaths.
Whether or not you’re for freedom of COVID-19 vaccination choice, when it comes to professional duty of care, the numbers speak for themselves – and they speak very loudly, indeed.
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