Coronavirus melbourne shopping strip chapel street calls to be allowed to open to vaccinated customers during lockdown 20210830 p5y9oo.html – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Melbourne shopping strip proposes to open only to the vaccinated

Serena Seyfort
Serena Seyfort

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Traders from a Melbourne shopping strip are pleading to be allowed to open during the state's COVID-19 lockdown on the condition they only serve vaccinated customers.

The Chapel Street Precinct Association is calling on the government to allow its businesses to open their doors to people who've had a double dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Precinct general manager Chrissie Maus said the business model would encourage all Victorians to get vaccinated.

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Chapel Street, South Yarra. Nine

"We need to give people a carrot. We need to tell people if you get double vaccinated you can go to the bar and have a cocktail with your girlfriend, you can get your hair done," she said.

"Our businesses are ready and willing to jump through any hoop to reopen safely. The sooner we do so, the better for livelihoods and everyone’s mental health and wellbeing."

Ms Maus said the association, which represents more than 2000 businesses in the precinct, was pitching a traffic light-style system to the government to help businesses determine a customer's vaccination status.

"They scan the normal QR code and it goes red, green or orange, depending on where a person is in the vaccination schedule."

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Victoria's COVID-19 Commander previously said there were reasons for "double-vaxxed people to have greater freedoms and greater flexibility for some settings".

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However, he said details were "still being worked through".

So far, just 34.2 per cent of Victorians have been fully vaccinated.

Getting vaccinated is proving to be a struggle for some, with Health Minister Martin Foley this morning confirming Pfizer bookings across the state had been exhausted.

Mr Foley implored people not to "give up" on trying to get an appointment, saying more would become available over time.

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