Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question and also for the earlier advice that he was going to ask a question about COVID-19. By getting vaccinated and staying up to date with booster doses, people are helping to protect their communities. They do this by reducing their own risk of serious and severe disease and they are reducing the potential burden on their local health service and maintaining their ability to work and provide care for others.

At the initial stage of the pandemic there was also the push through the vaccination program to ensure essentially a herd immunity to the virus, which is similar to the approach that we take with the other vaccination programs, and my comments relate to that. Anyone who undertakes a vaccination for a particular illness or disease is doing it as a member of a community, because quite often those diseases won't necessarily give us severe illness but those who are vulnerable, those who are immunocompromised, could be affected. So, I do see vaccination as a community responsibility. And there is no doubt that having the vaccines is preventing serious disease from occurring to people and preventing deaths and has been instrumental in allowing society to open both socially and economically.