No ACT teacher or school staff member should lose their jobs over a vaccine mandate, the opposition says.
Opposition education spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the Canberra Liberals supported mandatory vaccination policy but it should not cost employees their jobs.
"Whilst children under 12 are not able to be vaccinated, we support measures announced for mandatory vaccinations for primary school teachers and educators who come into close contact with children under 12," Mr Hanson said.
"In supporting this measure, however, no teacher, educator or frontline school staff should lose their job.
"The ACT government must find ways of redeploying unvaccinated frontline staff whilst this mandate is in place."
New South Wales announced there would be vaccine mandate for teachers in late August and the Victorian authorities followed in September.
ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said on October 13 that teachers would need to prove they had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by November 1 and a second dose by November 29.
Despite the late notice, an ACT government spokesman said public schools were on track to gather vaccination status of staff before November 1.
"Public school staff will have three ways to provide evidence of their vaccination status or approved exemption: via a smartform, online appointment or face-to-face," the government spokesman said.
It is unknown how many teachers will be redeployed as a result of the mandate, however one principal will be stepping away from the role after he appeared in an anti-vaccine video.
The health direction is in force until the day the declared emergency ends, or until 11:59pm on 31 December 2021, whichever is earlier.
"The need for the direction will be reviewed when appropriate taking into account developments around vaccine availability for under 12s and vaccination coverage while longer term public health strategies and policies are being considered," the spokesman said.
