COVID-19 vaccine perks could be in Victoria’s future

Victorians who are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 could be granted greater freedoms than their unvaccinated counterparts.

Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday hinted such measures could be in Victoria’s future.

He says it’s “a bit early” but “informed discussion” on the possibility of allowing fully-vaccinated people freedoms such as the right to attend major events, will need to be had when more Australians are vaccinated.

“Once we’ve got many, many more people with the jab we can then have a discussion about what that might mean for them — freedom of movement, changes that deal with some of the risks we face.”

Vaccination uptake expert at the University of Sydney, Professor Julie Leask, says it “could make sense, at least temporarily”.

But she says incentives for vaccination can’t be introduced until everyone has been offered vaccination, and there must be exemptions for people who can’t be vaccinated for health reasons.

“Right now we can’t do that because not all Australians can access the vaccine and we need to give time for people to have voluntary vaccination,” she told Ross and Russel.

“We wouldn’t want to see it extended for a very long time after we’ve got good vaccination rates because we’d end up creating a bit of an underclass of people who haven’t been vaccinated.”

Press PLAY below to hear more of Professor Leask’s thoughts on vaccination perks