Regional workers and business owners had an anxious night on Wednesday after changes allowing staff to be at work with one dose of a vaccination and their second booked appeared to be repealed.
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All mention of the one-dose return to work for regional staff, especially those in the hospitality industry, was removed from NSW Health advice and website articles.
However, a 9am Thursday press conference by newly appointed Deputy Premier Paul Toole re-affirmed that regional workers would be able to stay on the job.
Mr Toole said from Monday regional workers can go to work as long as they have had one dose of a vaccination, but must be fully vaccinated by November 1.
"This has been done because in some areas it was difficult to be able to get vaccines into those areas and what we are doing is giving a grace period to allow those businesses to be able to open their doors from Monday," Mr Toole said.
"This will include regional areas outside of Blue Mountains area, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong.
"This is important because what we are focused on is keeping our communities safe, but also opening up New South Wales."
Just days after praising a common-sense approach Eden-Monaro MP Kristy McBain was among those outraged by the apparent change on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's update.
"We are less than a week out from the scheduled 70 per cent reopening and our businesses still don't know what the vaccine requirements are for staff," Ms McBain shared on social media.
"Our businesses and communities need certainty."
In an updated post on Thursday morning, Ms McBain said she was relieved the one-dose rule would still be in effect.
"Many businesses across Eden-Monaro raised significant concerns with me about the previous requirement to have staff double vaccinated. They were worried they'd have to close or be unable to reopen because many of their staff have had their first vaccination but are still waiting to receive their second," she said.
"I made representations to the NSW Minister for Health because I didn't want to see businesses and individuals in regional areas unfairly punished simply because they haven't had the same access to vaccines as our city counterparts."