Australia's Victoria temporarily suspends 40 police staff for not taking COVID vaccine

More than three dozen police officers in the Australian state of Victoria have been temporarily suspended from duty after they failed to take the COVID-19 vaccine in the given time period. All emergency service workers, including police officers, were ordered to book vaccine slots by October 15 and were asked to get inoculated by Friday. According to a CNN report, the Victoria Police Department informed that 34 law enforcement officers and 9 public safety officers "failed to comply with the vaccination directive."

Currently, more than 40 officers have been ordered to stand down from active service while the investigation procedure is being carried out by the state's Professional Standard Command. Over 40 state officers may face serious punishments, including termination, but if the department finds that an individual was unable to be inoculated due to some health issue, they would be exempted from any severe charges. Those officers refusing the COVID vaccine have been referred to Professional Standards Command for not following the instructions of the chief commissioner, which will result in serious actions and may also result in sacking. 

Notably, the Australian state of Victoria is witnessing an unlocking phase after an almost three-month-long lockdown. According to the government's latest guidelines, the night curfew will be lifted from this week in Melbourne. However, citizens will have to follow a number of restrictions for their safety, including a limited number of people at shops, bars, and restaurants. Meanwhile, hospitality places have already been warned to tighten COVID measures and prepare for an outbreak when Melbourne begins to unlock on Friday. 

COVID situation in Australia

COVID cases in Australia are still on the rise. On Tuesday, Victoria reported a total of 1749 fresh COVID cases, taking the total confirmed cases to 143,135. Victoria recorded 11 death cases in the last 24 hours, tallying up to 1,531 deaths so far. Victoria has so far administered both doses of the COVID vaccine to nearly 70% of its population. Restriction in the state is also being lifted under COVID appropriate measures. According to official data, a total of 30,540,757 vaccine doses have been administered till now.

Image: Twitter/@Victoriapolice/Representative Image