Thursday, 8 April 2021
A recent survey of the South Australian Business Chamber members found that 58% of respondents are dissatisfied with the speed of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, with only 21% satisfied. Businesses are saying more needs to be done to safely ramp up jabs across the State.
Survey respondent Rodney Martin from Era Publications said “I am an exporter. The vaccine is an important step towards Australian businesses being able to take international flights to those markets that have also managed to control the virus.”
“The view that we are not in a hurry is an inward looking perspective on the urgency of rolling out the vaccines. Many of us work outside of Australia. Our export activity involves training. We need to be there.” said Mr Martin
With Australia meeting only a quarter of its vaccination target to date, businesses are concerned that the opening of our borders might be slowed by other countries being dissatisfied with Australia’s vaccination coverage.
The South Australian Business Chamber CEO Martin Haese said “Until we have a broadly vaccinated population, we remain subject to the risk of border closures and snap lockdowns as we saw last week in Brisbane.”
“We must do everything we can to get everyone vaccinated as soon as possible. If that means opening further vaccine sites, bringing more staff online, implementing innovative ways of getting the job done including through businesses, then so be it.” urged Mr Haese.
A flagged vaccination hub at the Adelaide Showgrounds within a month is a good start, but we need multiple sites like that. We have many mass COVID-19 testing clinics, and we should take the same approach with vaccinations to ensure there is enough capacity to reach population coverage by the end of October, or possibly earlier.
Survey comments reported that business owners are calling for certainty and transparency about when the vaccine will be rolled out.
While governments have advised supply is the number one issue affecting the speed of the rollout, businesses remain in the dark about quantities of local vaccine production through CSL and its deployment across Australia, along with a breakdown of State and Federal vaccination numbers.
In a letter to South Australian and Federal health ministers this week, the South Australian Business Chamber has called for greater visibility of the overall vaccine rollout to provide clear and accurate timelines to the business community.
Martin Haese said:“Both levels of government need to take a business-like approach to coordinating the vaccine rollout, doing everything possible to avoid ongoing financial pain for those businesses still impacted by COVID restrictions. We are also calling for a joint Federal-State delegate to be a single source of truth.“
Businesses expect State and Federal Governments to be held to account on the rollout, and that starts with greater transparency and communication.
