Catholic Vaccination Policy Review
Draft Policy Update Finally Released
After the IEU repeatedly following up progress since the specified August review date, a draft revised policy has finally been released by the Catholic Education South Australia office for consultation.
The IEU position put to employers is essentially that, as much as vaccination is a valuable component of our protection against COVID, compulsion is no longer an effective control mechanism.
South Australia is the only state where school systems introduced their own vaccination policies when state public health orders were rescinded. It is time now to let go of compulsion as society has broadly and progressively abandoned restrictions. This includes the recent dumping of requirements for isolation whilst COVID positive and the need for mandatory vaccinations in health settings.
Society now relies on a policy of personal responsibility and it is time for schools to align.
The Draft Catholic Vaccination Policy no longer makes vaccination a condition of employment unless working in a high risk setting (ie. a Special School or working closely with students in a special unit.)
The revised policy is in general agreement with IEU policy but do high risk settings need a special treatment?
The contentious aspects of the policy for comment will be:
- If working in high risk settings, is the requirement for vaccination reasonable and acceptable?
- Do vaccination certificates need to be provided (and stored) or just sighted and recorded?
- Are the exemption requirements clear, reasonable and acceptable?
Members are encouraged to contribute their views directly to the consultation process. Documentation is being provided by the employer.
The IEU will be making a response to this draft and is particularly interested in the views of those working in the remaining area of compulsion – high risk settings.
Member comments are welcomed – please email enquiries@ieusa.org.au
