The South Australian Supreme Court has heard Police Commissioner Grant Stevens questioned the necessity of a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare workers before signing off on an emergency direction earlier this year.
The Commissioner appeared in the Supreme Court today to give evidence in a trial seeking to overturn vaccine mandates for healthcare workers, which was brought forward by two nurses including inactive Adelaide Crows AFLW player Deni Varnhagen.
They are seeking a judicial review of the state government's decision to extend the state of emergency for 28 days and for the vaccine mandate to continue for healthcare workers.
Commissioner Stevens entered the court under police guard but was spared abuse from anti-vaccine protesters, who mobbed Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier after her appearance in the trial a fortnight ago.
Simon Ower QC, for the two nurses, today quizzed the Commissioner on whether he had been satisfied with health advice that a third vaccine dose was "necessary" for healthcare workers
Commissioner Stevens confirmed he had requested written advice from Professor Nicola Spurrier regarding the necessity of a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare workers, and received a written response on January 5, 2022 — one day before the mandate was extended.
Mr Ower pointed to "ambiguous" wording of Professor Spurrier's reply, which did not explicitly outline lowered risk of transmission as one of the key benefits of vaccination.
"You simply assumed that vaccine effectiveness meant effectiveness against all facets of the virus?" he asked.
The Commissioner replied that he did.
"We were having ongoing, frequent conversations with Professor Spurrier and SA Health over the course of the pandemic response," Commissioner Stevens responded.
"There was already a healthcare workers direction in place.
"Further consultation and advice was provided, which resulted in a decision to include a third dose, which was then signed off on."
The Commissioner added that the decision to mandate COVID-19 booster shots was on the back of "sound scientific advice".
When asked if he did not think to clarify the health advice, Commissioner Stevens said that was not his role nor area of expertise.
"Where I have questions regarding the appropriateness of the direction based on that advice, then those questions are asked and an example of that would be the third tranche of the healthcare workers vaccination mandate which saw additional allied health workers included in the mandate.
"I asked questions regarding the need to include those."
Commissioner unaware how many healthcare workers were unvaccinated
Commissioner Stevens was also quizzed about why a vaccine mandate for police officers was revoked last month, without the same occurring for healthcare workers.
The court heard that the "exceptionally high rates of vaccination within the police workforce" — 98.5 per cent fully vaccinated — were a key consideration in revoking that mandate.
He added that SA Police had worked with SA Health to develop ways to reintroduce unvaccinated employees while mitigating risk to other police and the public, with measures including mandatory face masks and daily rapid antigen testing.
Mr Ower questioned the Commissioner as to whether he had been made aware of how many SA Health workers remained unvaccinated.
"You had not received any advice in relation to that?" he asked, to which the Commissioner replied he had not.
"Do you accept that would have been a significant consideration as to whether or not mandatory vaccination should continue?" Mr Ower asked.
"It would be one of my considerations, yes," Commissioner Stevens said.
Commissioner Stevens told the court police were "constantly reviewing the need to maintain the direction" across all sectors where vaccine mandates exist.
"If there was a dramatic increase in the number of [SA Police employees] who were unvaccinated we may well have to reconsider our position regarding vaccinations," he said.
The trial continues.
