Wagga, Riverina aged care workers react to mandatory vaccination announcement

Evan Robertson, chief executive officer of the Forrest Centre aged care home in Wagga, believes that the government has made the right call.

"It makes it much easier for us to track our staff's vaccinations and keep our residents safe," he said.

"I imagine there will be the usual types of exemptions for people who have genuine reasons."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Monday night that $11 million in grants will be provided to allow aged care workers the necessary time off to receive the COVID vaccine and deal with any side effects.

A target has been set for all workers to have their first dose by mid-September.

The decision followed an "emergency" national cabinet meeting on Monday which was called to address the ongoing outbreak of the virus, caused by the contagious Delta variant.

Mr Robertson said the attitude among staff at Forrest towards the COVID vaccine has been fairly positive so far, and that the mid-September goal is "realistic, as long as the government puts the work in."

"It's not as simple as rocking up and getting an injection," he said.

"We have very little detail on how it's going to work at the moment.

"We really need all of our staff to be available to come to work so we can't get it all done at once, so a timeframe is necessary."

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Wagga aged care support worker Deagan Newell said that the decision was something he was expecting.

"I'm not particularly upset by it," he said, saying that all aged care staff are already required to have the flu shot.

In his workplace, Mr Newell said that most people - including himself - have already been vaccinated. If they haven't, they are in the process of doing so.

With the new vaccine mandate in place, he said that the only issue he can think of would be if workers aren't given a choice as to what vaccine they would prefer to receive.

The Health Services Union has been critical of the decision, arguing that mandatory vaccinations could exacerbate issues of job attraction and retention in aged care unless all workers have "an ironclad right" to paid leave to get the jab.

Aged and Community Services Australia was pleased with the government's announcement on Monday night, but argued it "won't solve the problems with the rollout."

"To suggest so would just be blame-shifting. The reason there is low rates of vaccination has little to do with our workers," CEO Patricia Sparrow said.

"Our workers were given priority as 1A and 1B at the beginning of the year, yet they are still waiting to be vaccinated. It's not their fault."

Leading Age Services Australia said the COVID vaccine mandate has reinforced the need to ensure doses are readily available.

"Staff also need to feel supported rather than forced to be vaccinated - priority vaccination should be considered a privilege and we need to be careful that this mandate does not turn it into a burden," CEO Sean Rooney said.

He also said that the announcement has raised a number of questions surrounding exemptions for staff when necessary, and whether or not visitors to aged care homes will be required to have the jab.

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