Vaccine mandated for authorised workers Bacchus Marsh to enter snap lockdown

Victoria has recorded 1143 new coronavirus cases and three deaths, as the government announced mandatory vaccinations for authorised workers and a seven-day snap lockdown for Moorabool Shire, west of Melbourne.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the public health advice behind the decision to mandate vaccines for authorised workers and lock down the local government area that takes in the towns of Bacchus Marsh and Ballan came after Thursday’s record COVID-19 case numbers.

Mr Andrews said more than 1 million authorised workers in the state had already had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and that the new edict would not affect the dates applicable to workers in industries where vaccinations had already been mandated, like teaching and aged care.

Authorised workers will need to have their second dose by November 26.

Mr Andrews said the decision to mandate vaccinations for all authorised workers attending workplaces was “critically important” but not made lightly, and played down the possibility that mandating vaccines across more industries would trigger more anti-vaccine protests.

“I’m not taking lectures on freedom from people who will hold all of us back,” he said.

“Right, we want to be free, we’re going to be free, we’re going to be open â€" and the key to that is getting those vaccination numbers up, and up, and up.

“The cabinet have made a decision,” Mr Andrews said.

“I would not be making this announcement if we didn’t believe that this was absolutely critical to having less days like yesterday, and to making sure that days like yesterday don’t become 3000 [COVID-19 case] days or 4000 days â€" we can’t have that.”

He said enforcing the mandate wasn’t a matter for businesses; it would be enforced by the Chief Health Officer’s directions, to be signed on this matter early next week.

“Ultimately, if you want to come to work and you’re on the authorised list, you need to have your first jab by [October 15],” Mr Andrews said.

He said there would be a consultation with different sectors, such as the energy sector, the waste management sector and faith leaders, but “no one’s exempt from the Public Health and Wellbeing Act”.

“There’s too much at stake,” Mr Andrews said. “We’re not making this decision for fun; we’re not making it lightly or flippantly.

“This is what has to be done to get us open.”

Construction worksites across the state to reopen

The Premier also confirmed the construction industry would reopen on Tuesday.

Mr Andrews and Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan stressed that the shutdown was necessary because of breaches of compliance and a surge in COVID-19 cases, and reopening would come with measures allowing employers to ensure workers had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Ms Allan said there would also be new “best practice” guidelines for lunch rooms, although eating outside was preferable, and each site would need to be able to show they were complying with the Chief Health Officer’s directions.

A portal would be opened on the Service Victoria website so employers could attest that they were complying with the directions.

Fully vaccinated workers will be able to move between regional Victoria and Melbourne, as will single-dosed workers who work on large-scale construction sites and state-critical projects, as long as they abide by a testing regime. There will also be a range of density limits on construction sites, varied to account for different types of sites.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas stressed there would be zero tolerance for non-compliance and that authorities were “deadly serious” about operators having to stick to the new safety regime.

“This new attestation process will make it clear what the responsibilities are of every operator and enable the site operator to satisfy themselves that they’re operating in a COVID-safe manner and [complying] with the additional requirements around vaccination,” Mr Pallas said.

Every worksite must have a designated, fully trained COVID marshal on site, Mr Pallas said, and every worker will have to carry an authorised worker permit.

Authorities said density limits on construction sites will be removed when 80 per cent of Victorians aged over 16 are fully vaccinated.

Snap lockdown for Bacchus Marsh, Ballan ‘unavoidable’

Moorabool Shire in regional Victoria will be placed back into a seven-day lockdown from 11.59pm on Friday. Mr Andrews announced the lockdown during Friday’s coronavirus update, and said it was informed by public health advice.

The Avenue of Honour in Bacchus Marsh.Credit:Pat Scala

The local government area will have to abide by the same rules as other locked-down areas in the state, including Melbourne, but without the 9pm to 5am curfew.

“These lockdowns have been effective in first, bringing us stability to case numbers and then driving those case numbers down,” Mr Andrews said.

“But on advice, and very careful analysis has been done of the number of cases in that local government area, it is unavoidable that a lockdown must be applied to that community.”

Case numbers ease as more than 62,000 tests processed

Friday’s 1143 new coronavirus cases were detected from 62,883 tests and were a sharp drop from the record 1438 cases recorded on Thursday.

The three people who died included a man in his 80s from Hume, a woman in her 70s from Alphington and a man in his 70s from Moreland.

COVID-19 response deputy secretary Naomi Bromley said Friday’s cases included:

Hundreds in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, including 243 in Hume, 83 in Whittlesea, 49 in Moreland, 21 in Darebin and 24 in Yarra;

In the west there were 55 in Melton, 54 in Wyndham, 70 in Brimbank, 23 in Hobsons Bay and 37 in the Moonee Valley;

In the south-east there were 41 in Casey and 25 in Greater Dandenong;

In the east there were 11 in Knox and nine in the Yarra Ranges;

Sixty-two in regional Victoria, including 12 in Mitchell (eight known close contacts), 12 in Shepparton (seven known contacts), and six in Moorabool.

Ms Bromley said Moorabool had a total of 32 active cases, prompting the lockdown that starts tonight.

Mr Andrews said there are 395 people in hospital with COVID-19 and of those, 87 are in intensive care and 59 are on a ventilator. Mr Andrews said that 74 per cent of the people in hospital had not received a COVID-19 vaccine, 21 per cent had been partially vaccinated and only 5per cent were fully vaccinated.

“The key point here is that only a tiny number of people who become gravely ill have had a first and a second dose of any of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Mr Andrews said.

The Premier said more than 50 per cent of Victoria’s population are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 80.9 per cent have had at least one dose.

More than 34,935 Victorians rolled up their sleeves to get a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at state-run hubs on Thursday.

Some students sitting the GAT should get tested

Victorian students in certain postcodes who are sitting the General Achievement Test (GAT) next Tuesday are being urged to get tested for COVID-19 beforehand.

Ms Bromley said that the “strong” recommendation applied to students in 22 postcodes. They were in the local government areas of Brimbank, Casey, Darebin, Hume, Melton, Moreland, Whittlesea and Wyndham.

“Students in those identified areas have already been contacted directly with instructions on getting a priority test this weekend,” Ms Bromley said.

“We have established additional capacity to accommodate these tests.

“We’re really keen to ensure that the GAT can be conducted as safely as possible.”

Ms Bromley said the priority tests would be done at the Melbourne Showgrounds testing site, and at the Coolaroo mass testing site.

Moderna blitz for 12-59-year-olds

Ms Bromley said 100,000 doses of Moderna vaccines would be doled out in vaccine clinics from October 4 to October 10.

People aged 12 to 59 would be able to walk up to certain state-run clinics and get a dose of the vaccine, with no bookings required, but people aged over 60 are still only eligible for AstraZeneca at Victorian clinics, despite recent federal changes.

The state-run clinics administering Moderna will include the Melton drive-through, the new vaccination site at La Trobe University, the former Ford factory at Geelong, the Royal Exhibition Building site in Melbourne, Sandown Racecourse and Frankston Community Hub.

Victoria-NSW border travel to ease

Mr Andrews said authorities would make announcements next week about the state’s border with NSW, saying it would “basically open” soon.

Mr Andrews said that while full freedom of movement at the border was slated for when the state reached the 80 per cent double-dosed mark, it would soon be easier for returning residents to come home.

“We’re going to have some rules around people returning, but hopefully … that can be as light a touch as possible,” Mr Andrews said.

“You’ll still have to be double-dose vaccinated [to return to Victoria], you still have to have a test, but we’re trying to adjust things so that you don’t have to necessarily do the full 14 days [quarantine] at home.

“That’s open compared to what it has been, so there’ll be permits issued, but once we get to 80 per cent it’s my intention to have freedom of movement - that’s always been our goal.”

Vaccine mix-up revealed

A general practice in Melbourne’s east, Deepdene Surgery, was on Thursday forced to apologise to patients after a Pfizer vaccine mix-up meant 30 people “may or may not have received the vaccine”.

The mistake, which happened because empty vials were used for preparing some vaccine syringes, meant some people were injected with a salt solution rather than the Pfizer vaccine.

“The saline did not contain any vaccines or drugs. An injection of saline does not cause any harm,” the surgery said in a statement on its website.

The surgery said the mistake only affected people who came to get vaccinated on September 26 between 1pm and 1.30pm, and that it was now following advice from Victoria’s vaccine safety surveillance service.

Victoria now has 10,944 active cases of coronavirus.

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