South West doctor says COVID-19 jab requirement for primary & community health workers a ‘necessary step’

South West dentists, pharmacists and general practitioners will soon be required to be fully vaccinated to work — a decision welcomed as a necessary step by a leading doctor in the region. Primary and community health services will need to have their first COVID-19 jab by November 1 and be fully immunised by December 1 to bring staff in line with other health care workers. Brecken Health Care founder and CEO Brenda Murrison, who has three health clinics across the South West, said she expected there would be a few people in every workplace that were anti-vax for their own personal beliefs but the mandate extension made sense. “We have roughly 400 staff and we only have two people who are probably not very keen to get vaccinated, so we think that’s an exceptional result,” she said. Dr Murrison said all health professionals worked with people who were vulnerable with complex health conditions. “It’s about protecting those people that they work with,” she said. “The vaccination is for ourselves, but also for our friends and families, the people we work with and if you’re working with somebody who has complex medical health needs, it makes sense that you need to be protecting them by being vaccinated and reducing the risk of transmitting COVID to them.” Dr Murrison said while some people would qualify for vaccine exemptions, medical exemptions were “extremely rare” and difficult to get and grant. She said the announcement had made things easier for individuals and employers to streamline rules and continue to protect the community. Health Minister Roger Cook said peak health bodies across Australia supported vaccinating all health workers. “Workers, visitors and patients in hospitals and health services are especially vulnerable to transmission risk,” he said. “People seeking health care have an expectation that their health will not be further compromised while seeking the care they require.”