CANBERRA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Australians are in favor of vaccine mandates, polling has found.
According to a Guardian Essential poll of 1,100 voters published on Tuesday, more than 80 percent of Australians think COVID-19 vaccines should be mandatory for health and disability care workers.
Three-quarters of respondents supported compulsory inoculations for airline travelers and teachers and teacher's aides.
There was majority support for vaccination as a condition of entry for sporting events, entertainment venues, workplaces, schools and retail stores.
However, the survey revealed a split in who Australians think should enforce vaccine mandates.
Forty-five percent of respondents said the federal government should implement uniform rules across the country, while 25 percent said it should be left to states and territories and 31 percent want businesses to make their own determinations.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly ruled out federal mandatory coronavirus vaccine laws, instead of leaving states and territories to make judgments on industries where mandates are necessary to protect vulnerable people.
The Guardian poll also found significant confusion about Morrison's four-stage reopening plan. Under the plan, which Morrison has described as a pathway out of the pandemic, Australia's strict coronavirus restrictions will start to ease when 70 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, with inoculated international arrivals allowed to quarantine at home.
At 80 percent lockdowns such as those currently in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne will end.
More than half of participants in the Guardian poll said they either don't understand the plan or do understand it but lack confidence in it.
Fifty-five percent said they fear the hospital system will be overwhelmed by the Delta variant when the country reopens. One-fifth said they had no awareness of the plan. Enditem
