Vaccination mandates protesters continue to protest after easing of restrictions except in high risk areas

The State Government has eased most workplace vaccination mandates but that is not stopping a group of local dissidents from continuing their weekly protest outside local MP Lara Dalton’s office. Last week the Government eased vaccine requirements for most workforces and removed proof of vaccination requirements, except for a small number of high-risk sectors including health care, aged care and residential disability workers. Our Choice Midwest group member Andrew Horsman said the group had made an effort to protest against vaccination mandates outside Ms Dalton’s office every Friday for more than eight months. “The mandates in a lot of sectors have just been rolled back but until the mandates are rolled back on all the sectors we will continue to protest here every Friday,” he said. Mr Horsman said the group was still protesting on behalf of midwives, nurses, hospital support staff and healthcare and age-care workers. “We know a lot of nurses and midwives that are still on leave without pay in Geraldton,” he said. Mr Horsman said he was a believer in “leave no one behind” and claimed mandates had a lot to do with staff shortages. The changes to the policy are in line with national advice which supports mandatory vaccination for workers in these sectors, with mandates for these groups continuing to be implemented in most other Australian jurisdictions.