Mandatory Vaccination Tensions and Litigation

Community attitudes towards mandated vaccinations against COVID-19 vary significantly from country to country. Views on the issue are strongly held. However, in Australia opposition to vaccination is at low levels according to a leading public opinion poll, although there has been vocal opposition to "no jab, no work" directives from some. There is relative consistency in the framing of directives that designated categories of workers across a number of Australian States are required to be vaccinated to continue in their employment, especially in the health care sector. A number of challenges against such directives have been commenced in five States in Australia. However, decisions from the Fair Work Commission, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and the New South Wales Supreme Court have given a clear indication that in most scenarios such directives are likely to be found lawful, with precedence being given to the public health rights of the community over individual assertions of rights, in the difficult circumstances of a country still emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when numbers of infections in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria remain significant, and when Australia has not yet opened up to the world.