With the COVID vaccine now mandatory for all Tasmanian residential aged care workers, what does the direction mean for staff on the district health service?

Under the direction all residential aged care workers need to have commenced the vaccination process by 17 September. The district health service where you work is considered as residential aged care. You don’t need to be fully vaccinated by then, but you do have to have had at least one dose or have made a booking to receive one. If you haven’t done this yet, you may want to get the ball rolling as soon as you can.

There are some really strict grounds for medical exemption, but if you believe you should be medically exempt then talk to your GP right away.

The direction says you will need to tell your employer your vaccination status. This means providing a copy of your immunisation evidence that can be accessed through Medicare or a medical certificate for a valid exemption. If you are booked in but haven’t been vaccinated, you will need to provide a copy of that instead.

THS have confirmed that they will provide additional information about the vaccine.

We are angry that 18 months into the pandemic, workers are still being left to pick up the pieces from the federal government’s failure. We remain concerned that this will have long term impacts on a sector already struggling with staff shortages. The federal government needs to support aged care workers and not keep shifting the goal posts and handballing responsibility.

For more information, please talk with your manager or contact HACSUassist.