Victoria pressed to scrap two-jab Covid vaccine mandate amid worker shortage

A health worker with a patient before administering a Covid vaccine booster in Melbourne in March. The Victorian government is under growing pressure to drop its double-dose mandate for workers. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

The Victorian government is facing pressure from epidemiologists and industry groups to scrap its two-vaccine mandate, despite an expert suggesting Australia is on track to have more than 15,000 Covid deaths this year.

Epidemiologists Catherine Bennett and Nancy Baxter told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Thursday that the two-dose vaccine mandate for most industries was no longer necessary.