Majority of Australians support Covid vax mandate: Poll

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IANS | 14 Sep, 2021
A new poll revealed on Tuesday that a majority of Australians are in favour of Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

According to the Guardian Essential poll of 1,100 voters, more than 80 per cent of Australians think vaccines should be mandatory for health and disability care workers, reports Xinhua news agency.

Three-quarters of respondents supported compulsory inoculations for air travellers and teachers and teacher's aides.

There was majority support for vaccination as a condition of entry for sporting events, entertainment venues, workplaces, schools and retail stores.

However, the survey revealed a split about enforcing vaccine mandates.

Forty-five per cent of respondents said the federal government should implement uniform rules across the country, while 25 per cent said it should be left to states and territories and 31 per cent want businesses to make their own determinations.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly ruled out federal mandatory vaccine laws, instead of leaving states and territories to make judgments on industries where mandates are necessary to protect vulnerable people.

The Guardian poll also found significant confusion about Morrison's four-stage reopening plan.

Under the plan, which Morrison has described as a pathway out of the pandemic, Australia's strict coronavirus restrictions will start to ease when 70 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, with inoculated international arrivals allowed to quarantine at home.

At 80 per cent lockdowns such as those currently in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne will end.

More than half of participants in the Guardian poll said they either don't understand the plan or do understand it but lack confidence in it.

Fifty-five per cent said they fear the hospital system will be overwhelmed by the Delta variant when the country reopens.

One-fifth said they had no awareness of the plan.