More details about Australia’s soon-to-be released vaccination passport will be released as the nation eyes a return to international travel.
A Senate committee will, on Thursday 30 September, grill federal bureaucrats responsible for delivering vaccine certificates before outbound travel restrictions are scrapped.
Vaccine passports are due to be issued from Friday 1 October in preparation for overseas travel to increase when coronavirus vaccination coverage targets are reached.
The Morrison government has pledged to drop restrictions on people leaving the country when Australia fully immunises 80 per cent of its population against coronavirus.
That mark is expected to be reached in mid-November, but states may take different approaches to receiving overseas arrivals, which have been capped since the Delta variant hit the nation.
Services Australia and the Digital Transformation Agency will face senators to answer questions about how the new travel certificates will work.
It is widely expected proof of vaccination will be needed for all air travel once the vast majority of Australians have received two jabs.
COVID vaccination certificates will be linked to chips in passports and people will have a QR code for scanning.
“You’re going to need them for international travel,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier in the month.
For people entering the country, vaccination status could dictate where and for how long quarantine is required.
Australia will recognise Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved vaccines including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Home quarantine is shaping as the future for returning Australians, but the gradual shift away from hotels is set to mean more waiting for more than 44,000 stuck abroad.
Nationally, 53.42 per cent of the over-16 population is fully vaccinated while the first dose rate is around 77 per cent.
Source: AAP.