The Australian Hotels Association NSW has launched a social media campaign urging people to get their COVID-19 vaccine, so that venues can start to reopen.
The #myshot_mylocal campaign highlights this is our shot to get vaccinated, and comes as a survey from the AHA NSW shows pub staff support vaccinations.
AHA NSW CEO John Whelan said: “The Premier has set the 70 per cent benchmark for a range of freedoms – on current vaccination rates we’ll hopefully reach that in the next six weeks.
“This social media campaign is to encourage our staff and patrons to get the jab as soon as they can. The government has been clear there will only be freedoms for those who have been double vaccinated.
“We’ve all had enough of living like this. If you want to get down to the pub when we re-open, get vaccinated now. You’ll need two jabs and you don’t want to be left out when things finally open up.”
The AHA NSW is also carrying out a COVID-19 Employee Vaccination Survey of its members, and has received over 6500 responses so far, which show hotel staff across the state support calls for double vaccinations before pubs finally safely re-open doors next month. The survey found:
55.7% said they will be fully vaccinated by the end of October.
28.2% said they intend to be vaccinated
9.5% were undecided
6.6% said they did not intend to be vaccinated
In addition, more than 63.5 per cent of staff members surveyed believe it should be a requirement for all hotel employees to be fully vaccinated.
Whelan said: “Hotels have been in the economic front-line since the start of the pandemic and it’s really encouraging to see such a large percentage of our staff are already fully or partly vaccinated.
“It shows how keen staff are to return to work, throw open the doors to your local and do what they do best, serve patrons in a safe, friendly environment.
“The Premier has now set the 70 per cent benchmark, and on current vaccination rates we’ll hopefully reach that in the next six weeks.
“We’ve all had enough of living like this. If you want to get down to the pub when we re-open, get vaccinated now. You’ll need two jabs and you don’t want to be left out when things finally open up.”
The survey respondents came from across Greater Sydney (54.21 per cent) and regional NSW. It was sent out to AHA NSW member hotels in late August.