Unvaccinated Australians could soon be banned from pubs and restaurants like they are in parts of Europe as lockdowns cripple hospitality businesses across Sydney.
France on Monday introduced laws that will from early August require vaccine certificates or a negative Covid test result for anyone entering a public, indoor setting.
Similar rules came into effect in Greece on July 16, stopping anyone being served at indoor restaurants, bars and cafes unless they could prove they had been immunised.
A swathe of European nations including Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, Italy and Spain require proof of vaccination for customers to be served, or are at least planning to.
With Sydney’s lockdowns now extended for yet another for weeks until August 28, restaurant owners have had enough with 24 per cent of them telling Deliveroo’s HospoVitality Index Report they should have the right to know a customer’s vaccination status and have the right to refuse service during an outbreak.
Unvaccinated Australians could soon be banned from pubs and restaurants like they are in parts of Europe as lockdowns cripple hospitality businesses across Sydney. France (pictured is a restaurant at Deaville, on July 27, 2021) has introduced laws that will from early August require Covid vaccine certificates for anyone entering a public, indoor setting
A majority, or 53 per cent, of the 500 restaurant owners surveyed online Australia-wide were concerned about serving unvaccinated customers.
Ed McManus, the chief executive of ride delivery group Deliveroo Australia, said that once local vaccination rates approached those of Europe, Australia needed to consider in late 2021 the idea of vaccination certificates to be served at restaurants.
‘It is absolutely the right debate to have in Australia,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
‘As a society, we’ve got to make some choices and trade-offs. In my opinion, that route out of lockdown and route back to the lives we used to lead is dependent on vaccination.
‘Some people in society won’t like this but I’m pro-vaccine, I’m vaccinated: it’s the right thing to do, it’s the patriotic thing to do.
‘It’s not an invasion of your civil liberties to be asked to produce a vaccine passport.’
Deliveroo commissioned polling group YouGov to survey restaurant owners before Sydney went into lockdown on June 26, which saw hospitality venues restricted to serving takeaway food.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has extended Sydney’s lockdown for another four weeks until at least August 28 and overnight, a record 239 new cases of the more deadly Indian Delta strain were recorded.
On the other side of the world, in the French city of Bordeaux, patrons on Thursday morning, Australian time, were seen dining at The Charles Dickens pub and bar without wearing any face masks ahead of new vaccination certificate laws coming into effect.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has extended Sydney’s lockdown (pictured is Martin Place in the city on July 28) for another four weeks until at least August 28 and overnight, a record 239 new cases of the more deadly Indian Delta strain were recorded
The rules will be expanded from September 30 to cover everyone aged 12 and over.
As part of the French ‘health passes’, those wishing to dine in at a restaurant or pub or visit a cinema or museum, with 50 or more people, need to prove they have either had a Covid vaccination or tested negative to coronavirus.
In France, 52 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, unlike Australia where just 18 per cent of those aged 16 and over were vaccinated as of July 28, Department of Health data showed.
In Sydney, two million residents in eight local government areas in the city’s west and south-west, are now banned from leaving home for work, unless they work in the health, aged care or emergency services sectors.
On the other side of the world, in the French city of Bordeaux (Le Brixton pub pictured), patrons were on Thursday morning, Australian time, seen dining without wearing any face masks ahead of new vaccination certificate laws coming into effect
The outbreak has reduced vaccine hesitancy, with just 14.6 per cent of people in NSW reluctant to get a jab as of July 23, down from 32.9 per cent at the end of May, a Melbourne Institute survey of 1,200 adults found.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has linked the AstraZeneca vaccine to six, blood clot-related deaths, with the probability of a fatality rate as one in 2.5million.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in June recommended AstraZeneca for those under 60, which heightened vaccine hesitancy as people of all age groups waited for sufficient Pfizer doses to arrive in September.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on June 28 announced doctors would be legally indemnified if they administered AstraZeneca and a patient had an adverse reaction.
But with Covid case numbers surging, the NSW government this week announced AstraZeneca would be administered at walk-in clinics.
With Australia closed to non-citizens and non-residents until at least 2022, Mr McManus said restaurants were struggling to even recruit baristas.
Before Sydney went into lockdown, the national jobless rate fell to 4.9 per cent for the first time in a decade and job vacancies were at a 12-year high.
As part of the French ‘health passes’, those wishing to dine in at a restaurant or pub or visit a cinema or museum need to prove they have either had a Covid vaccination or test negative to coronavirus in venues where there are 50 or more people (pictured is The Charles Dickens bar in Bordeaux)