No jab no entry

By Yvette Brand

A Yarragon business is taking a stand and will refuse entry to customers who are not COVID vaccinated by the end of the year.

Carol Leslie believes she has a duty of care to her staff and customers so anyone not COVID vaccinated will not be allowed into her nursery.

Carol runs Carol’s Nursery from the yard of her Yarragon home where she has lived for three years.

Through the challenges of COVID lockdowns on small business, Carol said she had accepted the restrictions for community benefit.

But, the final straw for Carol was the number of Melbourne people travelling to Yarragon last weekend (August 14 and 15).

She said one Yarragon café had turned away 20 people from Melbourne and staff had copped abuse.

So last week she took a stand and announced on social media her “no jab no entry” stance.

By the end of the year customers will be required to show proof of their vaccination record.

“I don’t care if they don’t want to be vaccinated but don’t come here.

“From the end of this year if we aren’t 80 per cent vaccinated then I want people to show me their vaccination record before entering.

“My dad is 85 and lives here with me.  He is vulnerable and I am over 60.

“I have a lot of carers who bring their clients here for a coffee and wander and I have a duty of care to keep people safe.

“Because I’m generally out in the garden I take people on trust that they are QR coding and doing the right thing.  But don’t test me because I’ll hose you down,” she said.

Carol said a proprietor was allowed to refuse entry to customers as a duty of care to other patrons.

“Scott Morrison (Prime Minister) has left it to small business to police it and it’s not good enough.  We are doing the best we can but we aren’t the police.

“I don’t need people trying to ruin my business.  We have to listen to the science and health experts,” she said.

Carol’s social media announcement last week attracted back lash from anti-vaxxers and social media trolls but it is not enough to deter her.

“They are hot air but we have enough to deal with at the moment – it’s hard enough worrying about if you will be open next week.

“I will poke the bear because someone has to,” she said.