Hospitality industry confused by conflicting vaccination directives
Melbourne restaurants are set to re-open at the end of this week, however there is confusion and contradiction over the vaccination requirements for hospitality workers throwing everything into chaos for the industry.
Current legal directions require hospitality staff to at least have had one vaccine dose by Friday, 22 October. This is the day Melbourne restaurants can open their doors to 20 patrons inside and 50 outside.
Those same directions also state hospitality workers should be double dosed by 26 November.
Pubs, restaurants and cafe owners and workers have been working and planning for the latter timeline.
However, it seems the directions have changed.
On Sunday Premier Daniel Andrews announced a revised roadmap saying, "Indoor settings like restaurants and cafes will be able to reopen with up to 20 people indoors with density limits, and only if all attendees – including workers – are fully vaccinated,"
Hospitality businesses are concerned that if all workers are required to be double vaccinated, there will be a shortage of cooks and waiters when eateries open up.
So, what’s the deal?
A letter received by the Australian Hotels Association from a spokesperson for the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety said Sunday's roadmap was wrong.
The letter stated: "I can confirm that at this stage the fully vaccinated requirement only applies to patrons, despite the fact that the Roadmap refers to fully vaccinated staff and patrons by 22 October.
"As you know, staff have until 26 November to become fully vaccinated and can work from Friday as long as they have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose."
The AHA passed on this information to its members, that includes hundreds of pubs and thousands of workers.
It seemed that should have settled the matter.
However, according to another government source, the Department of Health was unaware of this letter and the Department of Justice had made an error.
"The number of patrons that are allowed in the easing that we have done is predicated on people being double dose vaccinated and I don't think that anyone would find fault with the logic that says if I must be double dosed to sit down and order a beer or a glass of wine then the person who serves me needs to be double dosed as well," said Dan Andrews.
"So, it is just very important that we try to be as consistent as possible, and I apologise if there has been any confusion."
Unfortunately, it looks like confusion still reigns.
Irit Jackson, 20th October 2021
