WA COVID-19 Update
28 Oct 2021
Members will have heard the WA Government announce a requirement for mandatory vaccinations in certain businesses.
There are a number of different deadlines for this subject to the industry and occupation that you are working in. Veterinary practices fall within the ‘Group 2 industries and occupations’, which means that they are required to receive their first dose by 31 December 2021 and be fully vaccinated by 31 January 2022.
However, in addition to this, in the event of a lockdown full vaccination will be required. In order to manage the risks to your practice and businesses in this regard, you may wish to ensure that you have a sufficient number of staff members fully vaccinated ahead of the mandated deadlines.
Further information can be found on the WA Government COVID-19 website.
Managing your workplace
The AVA HR Advisory Service has recently received a high volume of enquiries from members across the country regarding COVID-19 vaccinations in the workplace. Please be assured, as a member of the AVA you have access to the following resources which have been developed and made available by the AVA HR Advisory Service to assist you with these matters:
- COVID-19 Vaccine Workplace Guide
- COVID-19 Workplace Resource Toolkit
- COVID-19 Employee Resource Toolkit
- COVID-19 Vaccination Policy
Working with clients
At this stage there is no government mandated requirement for clients of veterinary practices to be vaccinated. This means that it is an individual business decision as to how you manage the issue of providing care to the animals of unvaccinated clients. In determining the approach for your own veterinary practices, you may consider:
- Low contact or zero contact consult procedures for unvaccinated clients
- Kerb-side consults for unvaccinated clients
- Scheduling vaccinated and unvaccinated clients in different times during the day
- Asking client’s animals to be brought in by a vaccinated person
- Maintaining COVID Safe practices