Current advice from SA Health remains that vaccination is an effective protection against serious illness from COVID-19.

Requirements for employees and non-employees

The department has the following vaccination policies:

• COVID-19 vaccination policy for employees (PDF 277 KB) (staff login required)
• COVID-19 vaccination policy for non-employees (PDF 348 KB) .

Higher risk settings vaccination requirements

Certain settings are considered higher risk due to the vulnerability of the students at those settings. These include:

• Aboriginal and Anangu schools
• special schools
• disability units
• hospital schools.

Any employee working in these settings must maintain up-to-date vaccination against COVID-19.

Up-to-date vaccinations

To have an up-to-date vaccination status, you must have a third dose when eligible (from 3 months and no later than 6 months after receiving your second dose). This is in line with the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) guidelines.

For Aboriginal employees living permanently in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands, up to date vaccinations means 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Conditions for unvaccinated people in a higher risk setting

If you‘re unvaccinated and work in higher risk settings, you must comply with these additional safety measures to reduce the risk in the workplace:

• undertake a rapid antigen test (RAT) each morning at home, and return a negative result to attend work
• if your RAT result is negative but you have symptoms of COVID-19 or are otherwise unwell, stay at home until your symptoms have cleared in line with SA Health advice
• wear a surgical face mask while indoors at all times.

If you are unable to wear a surgical mask due to a disability or medical condition, you are exempt from this requirement if you have a medical certificate issued by a legally qualified medical practitioner.

Disclosing your COVID-19 vaccination status

All employees must maintain their current vaccination status on the employee information kiosk (EIK – staff login required). To do this:

• select the ‘enter COVID vaccination details’ on the EIK
• click ‘edit’ and then enter the dates that you received your first, second dose, and third dose.

You cannot enter a future date. You must have already received a vaccine dose, however you can indicate that you have a future vaccination booking.

You can also indicate if you do not plan to get the vaccine, or that you cannot have the vaccine for medical reasons.