The company is the local manufacturer of AstraZeneca
Biotechnological firm CSL has announced that they’re requiring all Australian employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The mandate states that all on-site workers, contractors, and visitors of the company need to be vaccinated by November 26. This is in line with the mandate from the Victorian government, which requires a long list of "authorised workers" to be fully immunised on the said date, ABC reported.
Those who are not covered by the Victoria's mandate, however, have until December 31 to get fully vaccinated, CSL said in a statement. According to the company, the latest vaccine measure will help reduce COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. A consultation process and comprehensive assessment were held prior to the decision. Finer details of the directive's implementation will be ironed out as the company will consult with suppliers and third-party contractors.
Read more: Deloitte, PwC issue vaccine mandates to employees
Meanwhile, the company also said their workforce in the US will be complying with President Joe Biden's sweeping order to firms with more than 100 employees to implement a mandatory vaccination or weekly COVID-19 tests. Brian McNamee, CSL chairman, stressed that their recent policies are important to bring the world's prosperity back.
"We have extended this mandate to all those at our Australian sites, and we intend to do the same at our US operations in keeping with requirements set by the US government," McNamee said as quoted by news.com.au.
CSL is the local manufacturer of the AstraZeneca vaccine after the company dropped its development a COVID-19 jab with the University of Queensland last year.
The project was abandoned after trial recipients of the vaccine showed false HIV positive results. The recipients showed HIV antibodies, though further results revealed that the virus was not there, BBC reported.
CSL has since redeployed its vaccine teams across the state, news.com.au reported, while its manufacturing facilities shifted to the dedicated local production of AstraZeneca.
