Australia Post is currently circulating an important COVID-19 vaccination survey to employees across delivery, processing, transport and vans.
Further consideration is being given to rolling out a similar programme across other occupational groups, including retail.
With a recent additional supply of the Pfizer vaccine entering the country, Australia Post is attempting to secure a number of doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines through Government channels to provide voluntary on-site vaccinations to members on-site – similar to the way the annual workplace flu vaccine programme runs.
Although members who wish to receive a vaccination can now arrange to leave work up to 2 hours early on paid time to attend a vaccination appointment or walk-in clinic, on-site access to vaccination is something we have been discussing with Australia Post for some time now – where implementation has been limited by a lack of supply, until now.
However, in order to secure the supply from the Government, Australia Post must provide accurate data reflecting the preferences of the workforce. Whilst supply is still limited at this time, doses will not be made available to this programme if this data cannot be provided.
Therefore, we are strongly urging members to complete this survey and return it to your local supervisors as soon as possible, enabling Post gather the information they require to secure this supply. The survey is anonymous and can be accessed here: https://ourpost.com.au/forms/nsw-vaccination-survey
Employee vaccination at Australia Post remains voluntary – your choice as to whether or not you wish to be vaccinated remains yours and yours only. However, the public health advice demonstrates that vaccines currently on offer are providing substantial protection from serious disease, hospitalisation and death following a COVID-19 infection – and we strongly encourage members to get vaccinated.
And we believe it is important when urging members to make decisions such as this, that our encouragement is not merely an empty vessel. So, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you that myself and each of your Officials who is currently eligible to receive a vaccine, has done so and is now fully vaccinated – as are those who work in our administration support team.
With the outbreak worsening across NSW and the ACT, the timing of such a programme for our members has never been more important.
You are all on the frontline of our nation’s pandemic response – keeping our communities connected and enabling business to continue trading online. You deserve to be protected when turning up to work each day, to serve our nation.
That’s why we are continuing to explore ways in which access to vaccination can be made as easy as possible for our members. This is another example of that.
So I am urging members who want a vaccine, to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
Should you require any further information, please contact Branch Assistant Secretary Peter Chaloner or Branch Officials Cade Anderson, Phil Kessey, TK Ly, Liam Murphy, Peter O’Connell, Dharmpal Singh or Dennis Williams on (02) 9893 7822.
Please keep safe.
Yours faithfully,
SHANE MURPHY
BRANCH SECRETARY
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