The Government didn’t move with the science around Covid

The Royal Commission concluded:

The case for vaccine requirements of all kinds weakened in early 2022 with the arrival of the Omicron variant since vaccination was now much less effective in preventing COVID-19 transmission and immunity waned over time. While beneficial to the individual concerned, vaccination now offered less protection to others and the public health case for requiring it was weak.

In our view, some workplace, occupational and other vaccine requirements were applied too broadly and remained in place for too long, which caused harm to individuals and families and contributed to loss of social capital.

I agree with this conclusion. In the early days the vaccines did help prevent transmission, which did justify some of the coercive measures on the grounds they protected others. But once it became clear that with the dominant Omicron variant there was little impact on transmission, the government should have changed policies.

Basically they did not follow the science. The science changed as the virus mutated, but the Government did not want to be seen to be changing course – so they put perception above reality.