Australian travel could be shut down for years despite Covid vaccines with border closed


Australians now face being trapped for years in what has been dubbed ‘prison island’ as months of promises to open borders when millions are fully-vaccinated seem to have been abandoned. 

There’s no guarantee borders will reopen after Australia’s Covid vaccine rollout is complete, the federal government has warned, due to the unpredictability of the virus.

Australians have been locked in their own country in all but exceptional circumstances since the international border was slammed shut on March 20, 2020 – and there is no date nor a timeline for reopening. 

Not only does the closure stop Australians from going abroad for holidays or to visit families, but the ban has also left a multi-billion dollar hole in the economy.

But although vaccines are the ‘best hope’ to keep Australia’s economy ‘moving and connected’ – the federal government has admitted it isn’t prepared to hang the nation’s global reopening on the jab.

The situation has been slammed by experts, business leaders and commentators, as well as stranded Australians abroad, who accused the government of ‘shifting the goal posts’.

There's no guarantee borders will reopen after Australia's Covid vaccine rollout is complete, the federal government has admitted (pictured, passengers at Sydney Domestic Airport)

There’s no guarantee borders will reopen after Australia’s Covid vaccine rollout is complete, the federal government has admitted (pictured, passengers at Sydney Domestic Airport)

The government's overly cautious approach has been lashed by many business leaders and media commentators who say Australia has turned into a 'prison island' (pictured, arrivals at Ballina Airport)

The government’s overly cautious approach has been lashed by many business leaders and media commentators who say Australia has turned into a ‘prison island’ (pictured, arrivals at Ballina Airport)

‘Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up,’ health minister Greg Hunt admitted on Tuesday.

‘If the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn’t just open the borders.

‘We still have to look at a series of different factors: transmission, longevity [of vaccine protection] and the global impact – and those are factors which the world is learning about.’

But the government’s overly cautious approach was quickly lashed by many business leaders and media commentators who say Australia has turned into a ‘prison island’. 

‘It’s a terrible message to be sending out because it discourages people from getting the vaccine,’ outspoken Sky News host Rita Panahi said.

‘It’s basically saying we’re still going to be closed off from the rest of the world.

‘It’s a terrible policy. How much longer can we remain a prison island. At some point we have to rejoin the rest of the world.’

Poll

Do you think Australia should open its borders when people are vaccinated against Covid?

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Lawyer Liz Hicks accused the government of ‘shifting the goal posts’ by previously touting vaccines as Australians’ ticket to the outside world. 

Fears are growing highly infectious ‘mutant strains’ seen in the UK, South Africa and Brazil could also make vaccines less effective in years to come, after an Israeli study this week found ‘breakthrough infections’ are possible after receiving the dose.

Such mutant variants are among the reasons why Mr Hunt and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have warned that widespread use of current vaccines may not be enough to open borders.  

No coronavirus vaccines, including the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs Australia is relying on, are 100 per cent effective against the deadly virus. 

An international traveler carries their luggage into the Intercontinental Hotel on April 8 in Melbourne (pictured) - with harsh restrictions meaning most Aussies can't head abroad

An international traveler carries their luggage into the Intercontinental Hotel on April 8 in Melbourne (pictured) – with harsh restrictions meaning most Aussies can’t head abroad

A passenger wearing a facemask arrives at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport from New Zealand (pictured) - the only country in the world Australians can travel to

A passenger wearing a facemask arrives at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport from New Zealand (pictured) – the only country in the world Australians can travel to 

With over 23 million cases still active across the world, Mr Morrison has made no apologies for playing it safe.

‘It’s not safe right now to open up our international borders. Around the world, COVID-19 is still rife,’ he said on Monday.

‘We are still seeing increases in daily cases, particularly in the developing world… but around the world, it is still a very dangerous situation because of Covid.’

Back in January, the prime minister said vaccination in 2021 was ‘a key component’ in Australia’s handling of the pandemic, and previously said it would be as ‘mandatory as possible’.

He even said that if the vaccines were effective at preventing transmission, borders could open sooner than expected – but that is no longer the case. 

‘The key thing I think is going to impact on that decision, is going to be whether the evidence emerges about transmissibility, and how the vaccine protects against that,’ Mr Morrison said in February 2021. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits a vaccine manufacturing facility in Melbourne (pictured) but health minister Greg Hunt has since admitted jabs won't be enough to open borders

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits a vaccine manufacturing facility in Melbourne (pictured) but health minister Greg Hunt has since admitted jabs won’t be enough to open borders

Australia’s top doctor professor Brendan Murphy also said vaccine efficacy would help relax borders as soon as the second half of 2021.

‘In all likelihood they will have a significant effect on transmission,’ he said in February.

‘If that’s the case they should allow progressively over the second half of this year, some relaxation of border measures and other measures.’

Innes Willox, from employer association AI Group, urged Australia to keep soldiering on with its vaccine rollout for the sake of the economy, saying the nation risks being trapped in a ‘gilded cage’.

‘Without an effective vaccine program our states would continue their lazy approach of needlessly shutting their borders to cover the inadequacies of their tracking and tracing systems,’ Mr Willox told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘Vaccines at least gives us a chance of reconnecting with what will still be a very different world.   

Passengers arrive on a Qantas flight from Melbourne at Sydney Airport to be met by health officials taking their temperature (pictured) with domestic travel back on across the country - but there's no end in sight for international border closures

Passengers arrive on a Qantas flight from Melbourne at Sydney Airport to be met by health officials taking their temperature (pictured) with domestic travel back on across the country – but there’s no end in sight for international border closures

‘Without it, we risk being trapped in our gilded cage for many years to come.’ 

The decision to bunker down for longer comes as stranded Australians accused the government of leaving them at the wayside overseas, with foreign nationals now outnumbering them for new arrivals Down Under.

Foreign nationals can get into Australia, but must still quarantine for the mandatory two weeks in hotels, by getting exemptions – usually for essential work such as doctors and nurses, or for compassionate family reasons. 

In February, just 44 per cent of arrivals from overseas were Australian citizens, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show. 

Lucy Morrell from strandedaussies.com – a website set up during the pandemic to advocate for the 36,000 stuck overseas and unable to return home – said Mr Hunt’s statements mean citizens and permanent residents will essentially become stateless.

She said as Anzac Day approaches its important to remember we’re ‘leaving Australians behind’ in a crisis.

'If the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn't just open the borders,' Greg Hunt (pictured) said on Tuesday

‘If the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn’t just open the borders,’ Greg Hunt (pictured) said on Tuesday

Nurse Jen Ives receives a Covid-19 vaccination in Tasmania at the North West Regional Hospital (pictured) as the rollout continues slower than planned

Nurse Jen Ives receives a Covid-19 vaccination in Tasmania at the North West Regional Hospital (pictured) as the rollout continues slower than planned

Australia has not recorded a single case of community transmission within the last week, with all new infections tucked away in mandatory hotel quarantine.

Deloitte economist Chris Richardson anticipates there will be some sort of quarantine remaining for incoming travellers for some time.

‘That keeps international travel – both inbound and outbound – pretty weak in 2022, and it may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024,’ he said.

Last week health authorities recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine should only be given to people above 50 due to the risk of blood clotting, sending the rollout into chaos.

Registered Nurse Rebecca DeJong receives an injection of COVID-19 vaccine, administered by Registered Nurse Morgan Sleader at Townsville University Hospital on March 5, 2021

Registered Nurse Rebecca DeJong receives an injection of COVID-19 vaccine, administered by Registered Nurse Morgan Sleader at Townsville University Hospital on March 5, 2021

It was the vaccine the Australian government was relying heavily on, but it has since ordered an additional 20 million Pfizer vaccine doses that will be shipped from abroad later in the year.

That means Australia’s vaccination program may not be complete until well into 2022 – far behind many other developed nations and even worse than the likes of Rwanda, Indonesia and Bermuda.

On Friday, 88,500 new vaccine doses were administered, bringing the total number inoculated to 1.16 million – well short of the four million Mr Morrison originally promised by the end of March.

Mr Morrison dumped the target on Sunday due to ‘uncertainties’ surrounding vaccine imports.

Passengers at Sydney International Airport arrive after flying in from Auckland, New Zealand on September 18, 2020

Passengers at Sydney International Airport arrive after flying in from Auckland, New Zealand on September 18, 2020

Australia has rapidly fallen behind other nations for its Covid-19 vaccine rollout leaving it 102th in the world, as doctors call for state governments to take over.

The federal Government had originally planned to have four million doses administered by April 1, but was 3.4 million doses short of meeting its target.

So far, the rollout has been plagued by delivery delays and complications, with many GP clinics simply unable to give out the desired number of jabs.

The Australian Medical Association slammed the rollout delays as ‘unnecessary’.

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