The McGowan Government is making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory to work in the hotel quarantine system to help protect Western Australia from an outbreak.
Hotel quarantine workers who have not been vaccinated will be prevented from entering quarantine facilities from May 10, 2021, with a new Public Health Order expected to be in place by April 27, 2021.
This would apply to security personnel, cleaners and hotel staff who have contact with guests and guest’s rooms, medical and health staff, ADF personnel and WA Police who work within the hotel quarantine system.
Hotel workers are the highest risk category given their ongoing exposure to international arrivals, with more than 2,000 international arrivals in hotel quarantine on any one given day.
The Pfizer vaccine has been made available to hotel quarantine workers since the vaccine rollout began in late February.
Currently, about 60.2 per cent of hotel quarantine workers that have consented to the vaccine have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 31.3 per cent have received their second dose.
The two-week period between the finalisation of the Public Health Order on April 27, 2021 and the mandatory vaccination date of May 10, 2021 will enable enough time for quarantine workers to get fully vaccinated.
As stated by Premier Mark McGowan:
“Mandating the vaccine to work in WA’s hotel quarantine system was not my first preference, but it’s critically important for WA’s defence against COVID-19.
“Hotel workers are in the highest risk category given their ongoing exposure to international arrivals.
“In the past two weeks alone, we’ve had 21 confirmed COVID-19 cases detected in returned travellers in our quarantine hotels.
“It’s important to ensure hotel quarantine workers are vaccinated to reduce their chance of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to others and significantly reducing the transmission risk.
“I want to thank our frontline workers for all their work, we are committed to helping protect them, their families and the WA community from COVID-19.”
As stated by Health Minister Roger Cook:
“Since WA’s vaccination program began, WA Health has been actively encouraging hotel staff to be vaccinated.
“This has included pop-up clinics, setting up a dedicated call centre, providing information sessions for hotel quarantine workers and making phone calls to security personnel.
“Despite these efforts, vaccination rates among hotel workers, primarily security staff, is still unsatisfactory.
“I urge all hotel quarantine workers to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
“You are our most vulnerable frontline workers and we want to keep you safe, we want to keep your families safe and we want to keep the Western Australian community safe.”
