- 10th Nov 2021
COVID-19 vaccinations for Paramedics a professional obligation
Vaccination is essential for managing COVID-19 risk, and it is the College’s expectation that, unless medically contraindicated, all Paramedics will take up the opportunity to be vaccinated with an available vaccine approved for use in their jurisdiction to protect themselves, their patients, their health colleagues, and the community.
COVID-19 represents a real and present public health threat to the communities of Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific. As frontline clinicians, Paramedics are at increased risk of exposure to the virus through daily contact with potentially at-risk members of the community. It is hence imperative that Paramedics acknowledge their professional obligation to promote and support the health of their patients and the public.
Consistent with this obligation, paramedics must ensure they provide dispassionate, evidence-informed health information, advice and care that is free from personal opinion or biases (see Paramedicine Board of Australia Code of Conduct – Section 2 and New Zealand Paramedic Council Code of Conduct).
The College is represented on the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce and is a member of the Australian Living Evidence Consortium. The evidence is unequivocal: Vaccination provides greater protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 illness.
The College respects the rights of individuals to form and hold their own opinions; however, there is no place for anti-vaccination messages in our profession, including during practice, where individuals hold themselves out as paramedics in public fora, or on social media.
Read our full position statement, which includes directions on how to book vaccinations and information about vaccines.
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