FAQs: COVID-19 vaccine

Queensland Health

The Queensland Government has announced that all Queensland Health employees who work with or in connection with any clinical area where clinical care or support is provided must be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to continue working. The mandate will also apply to those employed in roles that require attendance at these facilities.
  
Employees were required to have had their first vaccine dose by 30 September 2021, and the second by 31 October 2021.

The COVID-19 booster is currently not mandatory. However, health workers are encouraged to get their booster as soon as possible if you have not yet done so.
 
Boosters will provide you with extra protection and should help reduce the spread of the virus. If you have already had your booster, please make sure you let your employer know.

 

Nurses and midwives have a professional responsibility to abide by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s ‘Code of conduct for nurses’ and ‘Code of conduct for midwives’, which stipulates that nurses and midwives must understand and promote the principles of public health, including health promotion activities such as vaccination. This is a responsibility that nurses and midwives undertake when they become registered health practitioners with AHPRA. 

The QNMU recognises that some people may decide they do not want to get the COVID-19 vaccine. However, in exercising this choice, there might be professional and/or industrial implications. For example, this decision might impact their ability to obtain positions in certain work facilities or areas due to the increased risks to consumers, colleagues or themselves. 

Regardless of an individual’s personal choice about immunisation, any published anti-vaccination material and/or advice which is false, misleading or deceptive and which is being distributed by a Registered Nurse, Enrolled Nurse or Midwife (including via social media) may constitute a summary offence under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Action 2009 and could result in prosecution by AHPRA.

The QNMU reminds members to be careful with what they post on social media, and to be mindful of how online behaviour can affect one’s professional life and registration. Click here to read our social media information sheet. 

You can read the QNMU's vaccination encouragement position statement here .

Yes. Along with supporting members to comply with their professional obligations, the QNMU’s priority is to ensure members, including AINs (however named) have a safe working and practice environment. 

The QNMU Council – which is made up of members democratically elected by the entire QNMU membership – endorsed this vaccination encouragement position statement.

The QNMU strongly encourages all nurses, midwives and AINs to get vaccinated, and to meet evidence-based workplace immunisation requirements. These requirements must recognise that vaccination may be medically contraindicated for some individuals.

We will always recognise that individuals have the right to make personal choices about immunisation. However, there may be professional and industrial consequences for exercising that choice. 

It would be a reasonable and lawful direction for your manager to ask you whether you have received the COVID-19 vaccine, and the QNMU encourages members to disclose this information to their managers. Employers have the right to know this information so they can safely allocate staff to COVID-19 wards, or areas with suspected COVID-19 positive patients. 

However, this information should remain confidential and should not be published on rosters or made publicly available or disclosed. QNMU members are under no obligation to agree to have their vaccination status published on rosters or anywhere else that is publicly available. If you are asked to do this, contact the QNMU immediately for assistance. 

Queensland Health communicated the following important information regarding the requirement for employees' information to remain confidential:

• A person’s vaccination status is considered sensitive health information under the Privacy Act and higher privacy protections apply.
• Staff vaccination data must remain secure at all times.
• The use and disclosure of staff vaccination status information should be strictly limited to what is necessary to prevent and manage COVID-19.
• It must not be displayed on rosters.
• It must not be visible on computers or workspaces.
• It must not be accessible via shared email accounts or shared network drives.
• It must only be used or disclosed for the purpose outlined in the public health direction (i.e. to ensure that only vaccinated staff are working in Residential Aged Care Facilities or the COVID ward in a designated COVID Network Hospital).

 

Any decision about workers’ compensation is made by the insurer, which, for most Queensland nurses and midwives, is WorkCover Queensland.

Here is what WorkCover says:

In the event that a Queensland worker lodges a claim for an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination, WorkCover will determine the claim like any other claim, paying particular attention to whether the worker’s employment was a significant contributing factor to the injury (as per section 32 of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003).

This means each claim will be considered on its merits. If a member visited their doctor and the doctor believes they had an adverse reaction to the vaccine, the member can then make a claim. As part of the claim process the doctor will need to complete the appropriate workers’ compensation medical certificate.

We suggest members provide some detail in their workers’ compensation application about where they work, including any employment directives, particularly if you were required to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to continue working at your workplace. 
 
For members working in the private and aged care sectors, please discuss you concerns with your line manager in the first instance as some employers self-insure in relation to workers compensation claims. In general, however, they are required to deal with claims in a similar manner as WorkCover. 

If you need to take leave after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and your employer tells you not to apply for workers’ compensation, please contact the QNMU immediately.

Employees do have a responsibility to follow reasonable directions from their employer, including any COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

However, if you cannot get vaccinated due to legitimate medical or religious reasons, the QNMU will endeavour to support you however we can, such as helping you to find appropriate re-deployment. These members should submit a Request for Representation on the QNMU website.  

The QNMU will consider all requests for support related to vaccinations on a case-by-case basis. We will review your individual circumstances, consider your industrial and professional options and provide whatever support we can. 

Yes – the QNMU’s Professional Indemnity Insurance does cover nurses (including Nurse Practitioners working under their own name) who are administering COVID-19 vaccines in all settings (including nurse-led clinics). While we have been advised that some insurers may have determined they will not cover nurses administering COVID-19 vaccinations, the QNMU’s Professional Indemnity Insurer has confirmed that QNMU financial members will remain covered where they meet the requirements of the policy. 

To remain covered by the policy, registrants must always work within their scope of practice as per the NMBA’s Decision-Making Framework, must be a financial member of the QNMU, and meet the requirements as specified in the QNMU PII Policy.