The National Retail Association has expressed concern about retail staff having to question customers about their vaccination status before entering a store, describing it as a “very, very risky” idea.

The association’s CEO, Dominique Lamb, said the laws around questioning whether someone had received the COVID-19 jab was complicated.

“It is very unclear as to whether or not it could be discriminatory to say you cannot come into a store on the basis of inferred impairment, additionally you cannot ask somebody to disclose their medical records to you,” she told Scott Emerson.

“In fact I am not sure how we would do that unless we are going to be asking our GPs to print us records or log into their mygov account, how exactly would retailers determine that someone has or hasn’t been vaccinated?

“I guess it’s just something else that businesses probably don’t need right at this point because it is already hard enough to police some of the other requirements already in place.”

She said there were flow on effects for retailers for asking some of those questions.

“The greatest concerns for retailers, that we are already experiencing significant hikes in customer abuse and customer violence, where we provide directives like this, so to put anther layer on that, in terms of someone’s private medical record, is very very risky.”

Press PLAY below to hear why she believes it’s a vexed task for staff

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