Slow Vaccine Rollout leading to delayed re-opening of Borders

@MikeZ...yes it's outrageous to some but it is the elimination strategy that governments in Australia have chosen. There is no chance to change strategy so we all have to bear the idea of 14 day quarantine on return from most countries for a long time to come. No state will accept home quarantine. So get use to the long haul until one of the states is prepared to do the challenge test and let the virus into their community. It's all or nothing with the challenge test.

I didn’t think covid vaccine stopped transmission? Therefore, why is border decisions hinging on the vaccine? I’m no scientist but it seems everyone thinks the vax is a silver bullet - but actually, is it if it doesn’t stop transmission? Eg when Syd had that random community case last weekend, the govt advice was that even if you are vax you *still* had to be tested & had to iso for 14 days if you had been at any of the sites. And no other state would let you in if you’d been to an exposure site, even if you had been double dosed?

Richard the vaccine doesn’t stop transmission but data to date suggests it reduces it, and if you have been vaccinated then much less chance of hospitalisation and more of a cold. The idea of isolation will continue until we have much more vaccinated than the 5% we have now.

I have come to the conclusion that the vaccine rollout, no matter how fast or slow, will have no effect on when international borders will open. These are the reasons. 1. Travellers intending to come to Australia will not be allowed to get on flights coming to Australia if they test covid positive. 2. Fully vaccinated travellers still need to do the mandatory 14 day quarantine on arrival from all but one country. You can see from latest developments that the Australian government does not even want to challenge their quarantine system, let alone challenge their populations. The clear message now is that quarantine is really not for the purpose of quarantine. It is for the purpose of making it extremely difficult to come to Australia. So the dream of open borders is getting even further out of reach. My guess now is end of 2022 at the earliest.

Good for you if you can get a vaccine - under 50, been eligible since the end of March, still waiting.

Have been apart from my American husband for nearly 18 months & it's tough, Zoom can't hug you.

The virus will not be eliminated, look at the flu virus - we will need to learn to live with it as it will keep coming back in a slightly mutated form. A yearly shot so be it.

A few months ago the USA was in dire straights, now they are closer to normal, yet the virus still lurks. It's sad to see us isolate away, while the rest of the world gettes vaccinated and moves back to normal. Hermits, cat lady's will be our new global names, a rare species cornered when we next escape the land down under.

Convicts locked up again.

Dan Australia is very much like Florida and they had per capita cases much like India as many other US states did which ran out of emergency beds. Fewer issues with oxygen but that’s about it.

Yet another bungled attempt by Scomo,

Seriously how is he still the preferred PM, it's like we're a bunch of masochists run by a sadist.

It is refreshing to see there are still people out there who are frustrated with international border closure. No sarcasm intended.

Most, if not all, of the people in my circle STRONGLY ADORE our states and federal governments' approach towards COVID elimination strategy. Their level of adoration and support reminds me of those minions eagerly waiting at every turn to please their master (ok, a bit of exaggeration, but you get what I mean..).

Now, I agree that we have been very lucky in Australia. Life pretty much has returned normal in many parts of the country (except our Victorian friends now...) and we can live almost worry-free about catching COVID. I do not deny that this is a blessing that I appreciate.

I, however, have strong international connection (business and personal), so this situation frustrates me.

Now, putting emotions aside, I believe that prolonged international border closure is unfortunately the result of collection actions and psyche.

Firstly, let's admit that we are a victim of our own success - the almost absence of COVID in Australia (compared to most countries) makes use complacent and can't be bothered to get vaccinated. The government, as leaders, should take the lead and drum the sense of urgency to get vaccination up and running MUCH FASTER so that we can be connected again with our international community... but I am yet to see such a leadership.

Secondly, I find Australians are generally a lot more risk-averse than other nations. I mean, just look at UK, their use of Astra-Zeneca is so much more, dare I say 'risk-taking', from the Australian's perspective?

Thirdly, I suspect that the demographic composition of our population is such that most people are not impacted by international border closure. While 20-30% (or thereabout) of our populations were born overseas, it is far from 50%. In fact, I don't think it si too far fetched so say that that the majority of Australian residents (i) were born locally with most immediate family members residing within the country, (ii) are employees (non-business owners), (ii) do not have any strong international connections (no, trips to Bali do not count...), and (iv) prefer lazing by the beach, and have good wine/beer sessions with friends to doing 'challenging' international travel. If this is the case, then why do most of us bother if the international border is open or close? For many employees, I think many secretly love working from home, despite occasional grudges of missing the 'morning coffee rounds' with colleagues.. such a first world problem...). Business suffering? Not their problems, they still get the paychecks...

The boom in the sales of iron to China has managed to keep our country's cash till relatively healthy, the COVID stimulus from last year are still propping up the economy, and strengthening AUD just makes online shopping soooooooooooo much cheaper. So, to be fair, the question is: why would politicians in Canberra open up the border when most Australians' lives are more or less going ok, if not good; when most citizens support close-border policies as shown by recent state election results; and when most likely the current government will win the 2022 election with overwhelming majority as in previous state elections?

Unless international border closures start to affect most Australians directly (which I don't see happening anytime soon), our politicians will listen to the people and keep the border closed.

Those who care about international border opening are, I believe, the minority.

And minority's rights are always subjected to popular votes.

Can we survive being cut off from the rest of the world for the foreseeable future? I am terrified of the answer.

It's hilarious how much we have ceded in our ability to question or hold the government accountable. The Federal government has sold us this dog and pony show that keeping our border closed indefinitely equates to keeping Australia strong.

I was a strong supporter of Scomo's leadership early last year. His ability and his actions then to take decisions kept us from seeing a wide spread covid outbreak and helped our economy.

However it is scary that people seem to have forgotten that the idea of the lockdown and closed borders was to primarily to ensure that we could control and reduce the spread of the disease while at the same time ensuring that we could have enough time to build quarantine centres and medical facilities to deal with the pandemic.

Instead a year on , we still quarantine people in hotel rooms , we have closed the borders to our own citizens to return home and we still haven't been able to vaccinate all our high risk citizens.

And yet there are people who still believe that we are being kept safe. Safe at what cost ????