Updated
"No jab no job" policies are the driving force behind agriculture workers getting Q fever vaccinations and, without a directive from employers, shearers are failing to seek the protection according to a rural doctor.
If anyone has insight into the level of vaccination among shearers it is "Queen of Q fever", Dr Alison Gazard.
She is the only certified provider of the vaccine in Naracoorte, South Australia, which is home to the largest livestock exchange in the state and at the heart of southern Australia's wool industry.
Doctors from across south east SA and western Victoria refer patients to Dr Gazard, who tests and vaccinates about 500 people every year.
But Dr Gazard has not seen a shearer in more than six months and says she would be lucky to test five in a year.
Nearly all requests come from abattoir workers, who are told they either provide evidence of a vaccination, or go without a job.
"These meat work companies know how much it can cost them if somebody develops chronic Q fever or chronic fatigue syndrome from exposure," Dr Gazard said.
"But the shearing industry is fragmented and unless a shearing contractor insists people be tested or vaccinated before they join, it won't happen."
A knock off beer and a Q fever vaccination
Dr Gazard said the cost of a vaccination, which can range from $150 to $400, was a major barrier, but not the only one.
In 2001 the Federal Government provided funding for shearers and meat workers to get free vaccinations, but the two-appointment process still meant shearers had to take time away from work.
Dr Gazard changed her hours to suit their working day but soon realised she needed a stronger plan.
"If the shearers weren't going to come to me, I was going to the shearers," she said.
So she took her equipment to the pubs.
I don't make any money out of this. It can be frustrating hunting them down, chasing them to get their vaccination.
Dr Alison Gazard, Naracoorte's 'Queen of Q fever'
"Frances publican was very helpful, he used to let me have his dining room for my work but one night he said 'I'm sorry but the dining room is booked out'.
"We decided in the end that the pokies room would be suitable, so I had the pokie machines in one corner and me in the other corner, blood testing, skin testing, and vaccinating people.
"They'd all walk out with a carton of beer under their arms so the publican was very happy."
A patient must wait one week between the blood test and the vaccination and shearers were slack about the return visit.
But as one shearer found out, Dr Gazard was willing and able to track them down.
"We originally tested him at Willalooka tavern and he disappeared," she said.
"We found him again a few weeks later at Kingston and tested him again down there, because too much time had gone by.
"I decided I was not going to test him for the third time so found out, through his shearing contractor, he happened to be in Lucindale; we found him in the Lucindale Hotel and managed to corner him and get him vaccinated."
When the Federal Government scheme ended, Dr Gazard's schemes were of no use; even if the service was delivered to their bar stool, shearers were not willing to pay for it.
"I often suggest to them they might like to be vaccinated and they don't want to know," she said.
"They're not too happy about the cost of paying for the services."
Dr Gazard said shearers were a group at increasing risk of the crippling disease, as livestock are moved throughout Australia in response to climatic conditions.
"These days we do not know where these animals have come from," she said.
"There's a lot more movement of livestock from drought-affected areas to better areas.
"Some of the abattoirs, in order to keep functioning 12 months of the year, are bringing in livestock from the Northern Territory and even from Queensland down to SA for slaughter."
No incentive for rural doctors to become Q fever certified
When Q fever victim Andrew Ryan attended a Naracoorte medical clinic, he was shocked to find the doctors did not know anything about the disease.
All doctors in the rural town immediately refer Q fever inquires on to Dr Gazard, who is now 70 years old.
The Queen of Q fever hopes to train a replacement before retiring but said there was no incentive for medical professionals to offer the service.
Once a vaccine is prepared for use, it cannot then be stored again.
We decided in the end that the pokies room would be suitable so I had the pokie machines in one corner and me in the other corner, blood testing, skin testing and vaccinating people.
Dr Alison Gazard, Naracoorte's 'Queen of Q fever'
Therefore if a patient does not show up, the doctor bears the financial loss.
"I don't make any money out of this," she said.
"It's frustrating when you need to follow them up and they won't come, they won't return your calls, they disappear.
"It can be frustrating hunting them down, chasing them to get their vaccination."
So why does Dr Gazard stick with it?
"It probably costs me money but it's very interesting," she said.
"I meet some delightful people, I remember one guy I met down at Kingston and we tested him.
"He came back the next week for his vaccination and he had his beer in one hand and his darts in the other.
"He actually didn't have to put either of them down because he had a positive skin test and we didn't need to vaccinate him."
Topics: agricultural-policy, sheep-production, beef-cattle, wool, mount-gambier-5290
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