As Victoria, the nation’s second-biggest state economy, reels from its third lockdown — which ended on Wednesday night after five days — Australia’s biggest companies are throwing their full support behind the Morrison ­government’s efforts to vaccinate as many Australians as possible.From Monday, the first Pfizer jabs will be ­administered to frontline health workers and border and quarantine staff, as well as some of the most vulnerable members in the community.For most other Australians, they will begin to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine from early next month.Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said the COVID-19 ­vaccinations would help to catapult the country back to some kind of normality.“Confidence is fragile so rolling out the vaccine we think will help with both consumer and business confidence,” Mr Scott told The Australian.“I think it is hard to know, but there is no doubt that as the vaccine is rolled out and as we see fewer of the serious health risks associated with COVID, which the vaccines are meant to help, then there will clearly be a boost to confidence.“It will just give people a lot more confidence in moving around, engaging in business and investing for the future.”But Mr Scott is not expecting his 107,000 employees — who work across Bunnings, Kmart, Target, Officeworks and a raft of other businesses — will be inoculated against COVID-19 soon.“It is very unlikely that any of our businesses and teams will qualify for being at the front of the queue, I guess, based on the nature of their roles,” he said.“But we will do what we can to support the government’s efforts to roll the vaccine out as quickly and effectively as possible.”While most employers offer seasonal influenza vaccine programs to their employees, the COVID-19 jab has generated extreme sensitivity and responses. Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese called for the vaccine to be administered as soon as it received regulatory approval. Meanwhile, others have been more sceptical about the range of vaccines available, given they were developed within a year, when other vaccines can take up to 15 years to hit the market.But because of the disruption COVID-19 has wreaked across the world and its economy, universities, pharmaceutical companies and governments have been devoting much of their resources to developing a vaccine in a level or co-operation rarely seen in drug development.Brian Lowe, chief executive of packaging major Orora, said it was therefore critical to provide employees with the correct information about the vaccine to help ensure its take-up.“It is early days in terms of how the rollout works. But we are certainly planning an education process for all of our workforce in Australasia and America to make it clear what the vaccine is and isn’t, so we can dispel any myths that are out there about it,” Mr Lowe told The Australian.The Therapeutic Goods Administrations has assured people that it “will rigorously assess any COVID-19 vaccine for safety, quality and effectiveness before it can be supplied in Australia”. This was evident with the TGA being one of the last Western regulators to approve COVID-19 vaccines. Authorities in the US and Britain invoked emergency use authorisations to begin their vaccine programs due to the severity of their nationwide outbreaks. Meanwhile, Russia approved its shot, named Sputnik V, in ­August last year, despite criticism from Western scientists about the lack of large-scale clinical trial data at the time.Vaccine rollout AustraliaBeacon Lighting chief executive Glen Robinson said it was critical Australians followed the advice of health professionals.“There are going to be a lot of influencing factors across the ­entire population,” he said. “As a business, if there’s a benefit to reduce risk then we would softly encourage it, but we’re not health professionals we’ll be leaving that to people who are best equipped.”CSL chief executive Paul Perreault said it was difficult to mandate employee vaccination pro­grams, but the company was seeking to ensure its frontline workers — particularly across its plasma centres in the US, which collect the raw material needed for their lifesaving treatments — received the vaccinations.He said although the US had begun its vaccine rollout, it was complicated by different rules across its 50 states.“One of the things I’m trying to do is get our frontline workers vaccinated — voluntarily vaccinated — as critical, essential workers; those who are working at our plants and plasma collection centres,” Mr Perreault said.“It’s state by state; the US is very much a true federation where the states mandate a lot of what happens. In some states we have been able to get our centres rated where they can get access to the vaccines as healthcare workers. In other states they don’t see it that way.“So, it’s just a matter of trying to work through the systems and then make that happen. But definitely, our frontline workers have just been brilliant throughout this whole year — going to work, getting to places like Broadmeadows and Parkville to manufacture products and work on the COVID vaccines. Then the plasma centres, and our R&D facilities and all the work that’s going on there. I’d like to protect those, or at least give them the opportunity to protect themselves.”Crown Resorts is working with peak business groups to examine prioritising hospitality staff, including hotel cleaners and food and beverage staff for the vaccine, given their interactions with patrons. But Deliveroo Australia chief executive Ed McManus said he needed more information from the government.“We are still unclear on precise government plans and dates (ie, health workers first, vulnerable, next, etc.) and so in the absence of this, we have not been able to ­formulate our policy or plan.” Additional reporting: Damon Kitney



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