The confronting statistic Dr John Gerrard faced on his first day in the job
Queensland’s vaccine mandate will be scrapped for most venues from next week, authorities announced today.
The unvaccinated will be allowed to enter pubs, clubs, RSL’s, cafes, restaurants and more from 1am on Thursday 14 April.
Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard says it was his direction and decision to lift the mandates, and admits he was frustrated by the small minority of anti-vaxxers.
“A lot of discussion has been had around this very small group of people, and they are getting a lot of oxygen, that is to be honest is quite frustrating in my position,” he told Peter Fegan.
“To make proprietors have to enforce these mandates, to make showgrounds have to enforce these mandates, to make theatres, cinemas, etc it has been a big burden on them, they do tell me that for the sake of this very small group of people.”
He says authorities were waiting for the second wave of the BA.2 variant to ease before they lifted the mandates.
Dr Gerrard says he is “increasingly confident” transmission of the sub-variant is easing in the community.
He revealed his initial advice from epidemiologists and statisticians was that the state would have seen 5000-12,000 people in hospital, more beds that Queensland has in the entire state.
“That’s what I was confronted with when I started on the first day of this job.”
Press PLAY below to hear more about how he came to the decision to remove mandates
Image: Nine News