The Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, has said that Australia’s voluntary COVID-19 vaccination should be complete by the end of October, so does this mean travel will resume soon after?
Last week the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, announced that the Australian vaccination rollout is expected to be complete in October 2021, ahead of its original December 2021 date.
Hunt said Australia “is on track and ahead of schedule” in its vaccine approvals process.
Australia will receive all three vaccines, all of which require two shots, spaced a few weeks apart:
- The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
- The AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine
- The Novavax vaccine
Hunt said “we want to urge as many Australians to be vaccinated as possible”
“In order to do that, they have to have the confidence that our regulators are making sure that every safety step is taken, and we’re ticking all of those boxes,”
“We expect that Australians will be fully vaccinated by the end of October, on the basis that it’s free, universal and entirely voluntary,”
Greg Hunt. The Federal Health Minister
The roll out
According to a report by the Guardian, The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is expected to be rolled out from March and will go to health workers and those in aged care homes.
AstraZeneca/Oxford University could be the second, as additional vaccine data has been submitted for analysis and should be complete by the end of February, followed by Novavax.
Hunt said this vaccine, combined with the Pfizer and Novavax vaccines, should give “great hope to Australians”.
“I think it will be a good new year for Australians, and also a safe and healthy new year,” he said
What does this mean for travel?
This news brings a fresh wave of optimism to the travel industry as, in theory, this should mean that with much of the world vaccinated against the virus, international borders should reopen safely from October.
Although the vaccine is not compulsory, we expect that airlines will require some kind of health passport or vaccination certificate to fly, with the possibility that some countries will require travellers to have the vaccine to enter.
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There has already been talk of the Trans-Tasman bubble coming into fruition at the end of March, and rumours about South Pacific, Japan, Singapore and even Greece travel bubbles too.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see what happens over the next few months, but international travel could well be on the cards by Christmas which is very, very exciting.
It’s time to get planning because when it’s back, demand will be high and the joy of getting on a plane and exploring somewhere new will be more appreciated than ever.
Here’s to 2021 and the return of international travel.
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