Leading Australian epidemiologists admit that the retention of COVID-19 dual-dose vaccination warrants for workers in most settings is no longer accumulating.
Epidemiologist Nancy Baxter, director of the University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health, doesn’t know why some states have maintained a two-pronged policy for non-vulnerable industries, saying the effect of vaccines on transmission decreases over time.
“We’ve removed density restrictions, mandatory mask use, and work-from-home recommendations … those measures that we know will be effective against transmission,” he told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.
“It’s not clear why we keep mandatory vaccines just because of that.”
Professor Catherine Bennett of Deakin University said the situation had changed fundamentally since two-dose vaccine mandates for workers were considered justified and necessary.
“I don’t think there is any dispute that (the mandates) played a role at the time,” Professor Bennett said.
“It made a difference in terms of our population-level response and our control, but I don’t think there’s ever an argument, even before Omicron, for maintaining two-dose mandates.”
Professor Baxter noted that a significant number of Australians remained unprotected from the virus, including children under the age of five and some immunocompromised people.
He said it is important to be cautious when it comes to mandates in care for the elderly, health care and disability settings, where patients and clients are especially at risk.
Earlier, Burnet Institute professor Margaret Hellard told investigators that they should still pursue measures to minimize cases and deaths, estimating that Australia could record between 10,000 and 15,000 COVID-related deaths this year. .
“If we had implemented … simple measures to reduce transmission by 20% in May, more than 2,000 Australian lives would have been saved,” he said.
Australia on Thursday reported more than 32,000 new cases of COVID-19 and 72 more virus-related deaths.