The Department for Education told InDaily that as of Tuesday, 280 of its staff had indicated that they did not intend to get vaccinated in accordance with the department’s policy and had subsequently taken or been placed on leave.

An additional 169 workers indicated that they would seek a medical exemption from chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier.

Under the department’s vaccination policy, staff were required to have had at least one vaccine and a booking for a second by last Friday – the last day of the school year.

The department last month reported that 685 staff were “declining” to get the jab, meaning over half of those workers have since changed their mind.

In total, more than 93 per cent of the department’s workforce has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with approximately 86 per cent double-vaccinated.

The department said it was still following up with less than 1000 workers who were yet to declare their vaccination status or intention.

“Most of the staff in this category were on leave (maternity, long service leave etc) prior to the deadline, which may explain why they’ve not updated their status,” a spokesperson said.

“These employees will not be able to work in an education or early childhood setting until proof of vaccination or an approved medical exemption is provided and will take accrued recreation, retention, long service leave or leave without pay.

“We are very confident of our ability to adequately staff all our schools, preschools and children’s centres from the start of the 2022 school year.”

From the start of school next year, anyone who attends a school, preschool or childcare for work of volunteer purposes (including building contractors and parent helpers) will need to be vaccinated.

Only those with a medical exemption endorsed by chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier will be allowed on school grounds without being vaccinated.

It comes after a parliamentary committee was told on Monday that approximately 55 of 1500 frontline government disability workers were “not compliant” with a direction to be fully-vaccinated.

The workers had until December 2 to get vaccinated.

Department of Human Services disability services executive director Joe Young said the approximate 55 workers were given the option of applying for personal leave or taking leave without pay.

He said the department was currently able to backfill those roles, but it “would probably need to recruit additional people when and if it comes”.

“Some of those people were already on leave and long-term leave and, as of the 2nd, we had no reported staff shortages as a result of this,” he said.

“For those for which it (getting vaccinated) is an inherent part of the duties of their role and there is a direction in place, we will have to see what plays out in the future.”

The department’s chief executive Lois Boswell said as of December 7, 97.4 per cent of her workforce had disclosed their vaccination status.

She 92.5 per cent of all staff had received a COVID-19 vaccination and a further 2.5 per cent intended to be vaccinated in the “near future”.

Latest SA Health data shows 85.3 per cent of South Australians aged over 12 are fully vaccinated, while 91.5 per cent have received one dose of a vaccine.