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October 11, 2021
Hai-Anh NGUYEN
YET KIEU SEA SCOUTS
haianhn...@gmail.com
Dear Hai-Anh,
Last week, our Chief Commissioner Rod Byrnes sent you an email stating his personal position on the role COVID-19 vaccination has in helping Scouting return to face-to-face activities. He also indicated that there might come a time when changes to
Government directions made it a requirement of law for our Adult Leaders to be vaccinated.
On Friday, the Victorian Government announced new COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Workers) Directions that require unvaccinated workers (including volunteers) do not work outside their homes. The new directions will come into effect from October 15,
2021. We’ve taken time to carefully review the directions and seek advice.
There are specific roles described in the directions that unequivocally match the job of being an Adult Leader in Scouting. It is a Government requirement for our volunteers to be vaccinated (or have a booking) in order to take part in face-to-face
activities.
While they remain in force, these directions affect all volunteers engaged in Scouting, including Leaders, helpers, committee members, employees, fellowship, etc and applies state-wide. It does not apply to youth members unless they are involved as workers
(such as youth helpers, or Rovers who are also Leaders).
Scouts Victoria is also required to collect and record the vaccination status of all volunteers. Where the vaccination status of a volunteer is unknown, we must assume they are unvaccinated (and hence cannot participate in Scouting outside of their
homes). In the next few days, Scouts Victoria will be contacting all registered volunteers to request information on their COVID-19 vaccination status. We will use Operoo (previously Care Monkey) to collect this information, so that volunteers will
have visibility of their personal vaccination data that Scouts Victoria is holding. We will also describe the process that will be required for Scouts Victoria to verify the vaccination status (including certification for excepted persons).
Your vaccination status, and the how it affects your involvement in Scouting, can be one of the following:
- Fully vaccinated - you can participate in face-to-face Scouting in line with COVID directions and Scouts Victoria guidance
- Partially vaccinated (one dose) - you can still participate in face-to-face Scouting if you have a booking for a second dose by November 26, 2021.
- Unvaccinated - you can still participate in face-to-face Scouting after October 15 if you have a booking for a first dose by October 22, 2021.
- Excepted person - you can participate in face-to-face Scouting if you hold certification from a medical practitioner that you are unable to receive a vaccination due to a medical contraindication or an acute medical illness
For the vast majority of our volunteers the Government directions will not create hardship. We understand that for a few, the directions impose rules that prevent them from engaging with the face-to-face program. We hope this situation will be temporary.
The Scouts Victoria COVID-19 Update website will always have the latest
directions on Scouting during COVID and the Vaccination FAQs will have more
information on the vaccination process as it becomes available.
If you have any questions on how this process will be implemented, please contact our...@scoutsvictoria.com.au,
but please consider that these directions are new, and we are still working out the details.
Rod shared a powerful message last week. His view was that vaccination was aligned to doing our duty and keeping our Scout Promise. The feedback he received was overwhelmingly positive and reaffirmed his belief that Scouting attracts the best kind of
people.
Scouts has a reputation for doing great things for our community and the amazing job we’ve done through the pandemic has been noted by the media and the Government. We’re doing our duty, together.
Yours in Scouting,
Jon McGregor
Executive Manager
Scouts Victoria |
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