Premier mulling 'radical move' to bill the unvaccinated
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is considering a “radical” move for the unvaccinated ahead of Christmas.
Covid case numbers in NSW continue to soar with more than 3700 people testing positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours leading up to 8pm on Tuesday.
Hospitalisations are slightly increasing with 302 people in hospital being treated for the virus, 40 of which are in the ICU.
This figure hasn't gone unnoticed by the premier who is now considering charging the unvaccinated should they end up in hospital, 2GB's Ray Hadley announced on Wednesday.
“That’s based on the fact that at the moment the vast majority of people in the ICU are in fact unvaccinated,” he said.
“This is a rather radical move.”
Hadley added he did not think health officials support it, but said it might encourage more people to get a jab. He claims cabinet ministers have suggested the move to the premier who passed it on to health minister Brad Hazzard.
Mr Hazzard has confirmed he is considering the proposal.
"This is an option under consideration by the NSW Government," Mr Hazzard said in a statement to Yahoo News Australia.
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Currently, 94.9 per cent of the NSW population 16 years and over have been fully vaccinated.
But the premier on Monday said of 33 in the ICU on that day, 26 were unvaccinated people. It is not immediately clear how many of Wednesday’s ICU patients are unvaccinated.
According to the Medical Journal of Australia, the average cost for an ICU bed is $4375.
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