Australia’s international borders could open sooner than we all thought if the country’s COVID-19 vaccines prove effective – which is music to the ears of the travel industry.
According to Federal Health Department boss Brendan Murphy and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, effective vaccines could be the key to opening Australia’s international borders sooner than expected; meaning family could be reunited, stranded travellers could return home and the travel industry could find its feet once more.
The vaccine rollout
The Pfizer vaccine rollout is expected to begin at the end of this month and will be given to 30 to 50 hospital sites covering aged care and disability residents and workers, frontline healthcare workers, as well as quarantine and border workers.
According to a new study by the University of East Anglia, a single dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is “highly protective” after three weeks.
This news comes shortly after a study by the University of Oxford found its vaccine with AstraZeneca offers protection of 76 per cent up to 12 weeks after a single dose and may reduce transmission by 67 per cent.
Regulatory review for the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines within Australia is ongoing. However, the AstraZeneca vaccine is estimated to be available for Australians from late March.
What does this mean for the travel industry?
Australia’s border has been closed for almost a year; a decision that has kept Australians safe, but has left the travel industry in tatters.
Last month, we were told that international travel would not return until at least 2022 – with the exception of safe travel bubbles.
However, on a recent Facebook live feed, Brendan Murphy, the Health Department Secretary said border reopenings could depend on the effectiveness of the vaccines.
“If, as we suspect these vaccines are effective at preventing transmission, the sooner we get the population vaccinated, the sooner people — not only will they be protected, but we will get on this path towards good herd immunity, and that will speed up the return to international travel,”
Brendan Murphy, Health Department Secretary
Prime Minister Scott Morrison reiterated that the reopening of international borders depended on the vaccine’s success at stopping community transmission.
He said it had the potential to be “quite a game changer” – but we’ll have to sight tight, wait and see.
In theory, if the vaccines are fully rolled out by October and prove their effectiveness against COVID-19, we could see international borders open sometime in the last quarter of 2021.
It’s expected that in order to travel, passengers will have to show proof of vaccinations and negative COVID-19 test results to airlines and continue to check-in to aid track and tracing.
When do you think international travel will restart? Will you be opting to have the vaccine in order to travel in 2021 if you can?
Let us know – email editor@karryon.com.au
Source: ABC/AAP
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