COVID-19 restrictions in Great Southern to be eased on Friday with vaccine mandates scrapped

Great Southern residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to return to work as early as Friday, with vaccine mandates to be scrapped across the State. The Great Southern region recorded 135 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of active cases in the region to 813. The falling figures come as the State prepares for a further easing of COVID restrictions in the coming days. From Friday, only people working with the most vulnerable — health and residential aged care workers and those in residential disability settings — will be required to be triple-dose vaccinated. WA Police and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services have confirmed that vaccine mandates will be scrapped within their agencies from Friday in line with the State Government’s easing of the health measure. The mandatory vaccination policy was phased in from December last year and proved extremely effective in protecting WA and helping achieve the nation’s highest vaccination rate, Premier Mark McGowan said. “They were crucial in delivering our soft landing and have meant we significantly reduced the number of serious illnesses and hospitalisations, kept people out of ICU and limited the number of COVID-19 deaths,” he said. The changes were announced alongside the axing of the seven-day quarantine requirement for unvaccinated Australians and permanent residents, which came into effect on June 1. However, unvaccinated non-Australians still cannot enter Australia under Commonwealth orders. The axing of vaccination mandates will be welcomed by some parts of the local community, with Katanning Shire president Liz Guidera telling the Herald in April she believed they were no longer necessary. “While I supported the State Government’s mandate for vaccinations that ensured key workers and industries would remain in operation, I see little advantage to continuing the mandates,” she said in April. Further easing of restrictions will take place next Wednesday, when directions to restrict access to remote Aboriginal communities will also be ditched. No changes have been made to the WA’s isolation rules, with positive COVID-19 cases still required to isolate for seven days and close contacts still required to take risk-averse measures. All other restrictions remain in place. First and second dose rates for a COVID-19 vaccine are now above 99 per cent across WA. As of Saturday, 83.2 per cent of eligible West Australians have received a COVID-19 booster. WA residents will be able to receive free influenza vaccinations during the month of June as the State tries to defend itself against what could be a bad flu season.