Tas brings in compulsory vaccination for ECEC employees in line with the rest of Aus

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) employees will need to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by 8 January 2022 in order to continue working in the sector, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein announced late yesterday. 

Backed by Public Health Director Dr Mark Veitch, the decision comes in the wake of pressure from prominent sector voices in the state about concerns of children in ECEC settings transmitting the virus. 

The decision to mandate the vaccine, he continued, would help limit the spread of infection from those working in ECEC to the broader community. 

“We know that infection can spread in childcare centres and in schools amongst children,” he said.

“The workers in these services are limited and there’s a required number of workers to manage specified numbers of children,” he told the ABC.

“A small loss of workers from that service can disrupt the service to quite a number of children and also the parents who rely upon the sector to look after children when they’re working.”

To learn more about the mandate, see here. The original coverage of this story can be found here.