Australia could take YEARS to open its borders: Brisbane says there is no guarantee travel will be allowed even after the whole population is finally vaccinated by slow roll-out to preserve Zero Covid strategy Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up, health minister said, If the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn t just open the borders.
He cited other factors including transmissibility and longevity of immunity
Comes amid outrage at shifting of the goal posts over tough border restriction
Australians, including 36,000 who live overseas, are desperate to travel
Australia won t open its borders even AFTER everyone is vaccinated msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Australia has rejected calls to buy the highly-regarded, one-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine to replace the scrapped AstraZeneca rollout.
The country s vaccination plan was thrown into chaos when a link to a rare blood clotting was discovered in the AstraZeneca jab.
Anyone under 50 is now advised against getting it and states are refusing to administer it unless the patient already had their first shot.
The government was in talks last week with Johnson & Johnson and manufacturer Janssen, which asked for approval for its vaccine from Australia s medicine regulator.
Federal Health minister Greg Hunt has ruled out proceeding with the purchase at this stage because it is too similar to the AstraZeneca drug - which raised fears over blood clotting in a small number of cases
Travel hopes crushed: After being told for a YEAR vaccines were the key to freedom Australians now face being trapped in a gilded cage indefinitely after shock revelation that jabs won t open borders even when the slow rollout is complete
Even when Australia is fully vaccinated the borders may remain on lockdown
Australian government says other factors will determine reopening
Some experts believe quarantine system will remain in place until at least 2024
Business leaders and media commentators lashed the government s position
Australia has ruled out buying Johnson & Johnson's highly-regarded one shot Covid vaccine because of similarities to the AstraZeneca vaccine - but there's another reason it's not in our rollout plans.