A Panacea for Australia's COVID-19 Crisis? Weighing Some Legal Implications of Mandatory Vaccination

Although Australia's rates of infection, illness and mortality from COVID-19 have been relatively low, they have escalated with the rapid transmission of the Delta variant. Restrictions imposed on people's liberties to curb the spread of the virus in several Australian States have engendered economic hardship, mental health challenges, and collective exhaustion and impatience. Several vaccines have been developed and approved for use in Australia that have proven effective in reducing the likelihood that the vaccinated will contract COVID-19 and, if infected, transmit and suffer serious illness and/or die from it. Public debate has thus centred on whether mandatory vaccination could be the panacea for Australia's COVID-19 crisis, and several Australian governments and employers have already imposed vaccination requirements. This article explores some potentially significant implications of mandatory vaccination for two areas of the law - human rights and employers' liability to consider whether, from a legal perspective, mandatory vaccination could constitute a viable solution to Australia's present predicament.