Call For Business Role In Vaccine Rollout In Australia

SYDNEY — A peak business group, the Business Council of Australia, believes it can assist with the Covid-19 vaccine rollout through its network of members across various regions in the country.

But the Business Council of Australia also says there needs to be clarity and consistency surrounding the health advice on vaccines for a proper and effective rollout.

The Business Council of Australia tweeted “Despite 28 years of uninterrupted economic growth and our success managing the economy through the pandemic, we are currently facing an equation that doesn’t stack up. We’re encouraging everyone with a stake in the country’s future to have their say.”

The council’s chief executive Jennifer Westacott says 1.5 million Australians work for its members, like banks, supermarkets and other big employers.

“All are used to doing the flu vaccine,” Westacott told a news channel, adding she would like to see their providers accredited to also administer the Covid vaccine. “Business can play a massive role in the mass vaccine rollout.”

Westacott also believes there are many sites where a vaccination hub could be set up that would be convenient for people to get their jabs, like a Bunning’s car park, or a Westfield or Stockland shopping centre. These centers are easily accessible to the people and can be helpful in improving the accessibility of vaccines for the general public.

Westacott tweeted in March, “Business is committed to helping shape the health, security and stability of nations on our doorstep. Our prosperity is intertwined with the social and economic fortunes of our neighbors.”

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian agrees large corporate or large workplaces have the ability to bring people on their premises to vaccinate their workforces in a timely way.

“The challenge now is we don’t have enough supply, but once we do have enough supply, we need to make sure there are enough points of access,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “That’s what we don’t have at the moment.”

Westacott would also like to see incentives to make people get vaccinated, like an indication on their smartphone to signal they have had the jab, so they would not have to abide by stay-at-home orders in a lockdown. This would help the people and the government in an easy and effective rollout of the vaccine along with timely jab distribution. This would reduce the troubles of the people in various ways.

“And then obviously as part of that, to start thinking about how we gradually get back to some sort of state of normal,” she said. “Now I know people say let’s not talk about that while we’re in this terrible situation, but we’ve got to plan for that because business has to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

(Edited by Vaibhav Pawar and Praveen Pramod Tewari)