Highlights
- ‘It’s not safe right now to open up our international borders,’ says Australian PM Scott Morrison
- Health Minister Greg Hunt refuses to guarantee reopening borders even if the whole country gets vaccinated
- Health experts warn widespread vaccination drives are not sufficient to kick start international travel
Days after National Cabinet sought , Prime Minister Scott Morrison may have dashed hopes of the resumption of overseas travel.
During a Facebook Live on Monday, Mr Morrison warned that it may not be safe to reopen borders while COVID-19 cases are escalating worldwide, particularly in developing countries.
“It’s not safe right now to open up our international borders. Around the world, COVID-19 is still rife,” the prime minister said.
“We’ll keep moving quickly to vaccinate our most vulnerable population, and we’ll keep those borders closed for as long as we have to, but only as long as we have to, and we’re already right now preparing for what it looks like when we can open up again,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP
But with vaccine drives ramping up around the world, many were hoping inoculation would be the key that would eventually unlock the country’s borders to the rest of the world and allow them to undertake quarantine-free travel similar to pre-pandemic days.
When asked if that could happen anytime soon, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said there is no guarantee that borders could reopen even if the entire country was vaccinated against the virus.
“Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up,” Mr Hunt said.
If the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn’t just open the borders - Health Minister
“We still have to look at a series of different factors: transmission, longevity [of protection from vaccines] and the global impact, and those are factors which the world is learning about,” he said.
‘Battle between love and livelihood’
Temporary migrant Prerna*, who has been separated from her fiancé for over a year, says the government’s stance on borders is taking a toll on her impending wedding that was scheduled to be held in March 2020 and has since been postponed several times.
The 26-year-old who holds a post-study work visa, believes separation from loved ones is an “unpardonable atrocity”.
Will vaccines enable Australia to reopen to the rest of the world? Source: Getty Images/Pollyana Ventura
“I came to India in February last year from Brisbane to prepare for our wedding. My fiancé, who also lives in Brisbane, was supposed to come in the last week of March. But suddenly, the borders closed, and he decided to stay back because he feared that he might lose his job if he got stranded in India,” she recalls.
Prerna has applied for travel exemption three times but failed.
“We were meant to get married on March 26 last year. Then we decided to wait till October and finally, rebooked wedding venues in January this year after the vaccine rollout was announced,” she laments.
“Either my fiancé travels to India, but with the uncertainty around travel, he too wouldn’t be able to return to Australia if he came now. Or, we simply wait. So, it’s a battle between love and livelihood,” Prerna adds.
*Prerna is not her real name.
Health experts warn COVID-19 vaccine rollout is unlikely to allow Australians to fly overseas anytime soon. Source: AAP Image/Destination NSW
Will vaccines enable Australia to reopen to the rest of the world?
With the New Zealand travel bubble ready to kick off next week, Australia is set to take its first step towards reopening to the rest of the world.
Buoyed by the Trans-Tasman bubble and the country’s vaccine rollout, the travel and tourism industry and the national business groups have urged the government to develop a roadmap to reopen its borders.
But health experts warn that the vaccine rollout alone is unlikely to allow the government to lift border restrictions and allow international travel.
Dr Chris Moy, Vice-President, Australian Medical Association. Source: Supplies by AMA
Dr Chris Moy, vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, says a widespread vaccination drive in Australia alone cannot enable the reopening of borders.
“That decision would depend on a number of variables such as some relative uncertainties about the vaccines, how long they last, whether they can stop asymptomatic transmission of the virus and whether you can pass it on to somebody else,” Dr Moy tells SBS Punjabi.
“The other big variable is the vaccination of individuals overseas because this is a pandemic, so we also need to vaccinate those people coming into the country,” he adds.
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