Why doesn't Australia vaccinate travellers returning home?

acersaurus on 29/06/2021 - 15:09
Last edited 29/06/2021 - 15:45

So it seems like the country is in a bit of a pickle at the moment with this Delta variant.

Anyway there are apparently 35,000 people who want to come home and these are the main risk of the cat getting out of the bag.

Why doesn't Australia go out of its way to give all of them (aged 18+) the Pfizer vaccine (most effective, short intervals between doses) before they come home?

Australia is injecting over 700,000 vaccines a week now, so vaccinating 35,000 (70,000 doses) is not overly costly when you think about how costly lockdowns that result from infected travellers are, I'd say it's a bargain.

I will add in a poll to see what y'all think

Poll Options expired

  • 142
    Australians returning home should be prioritised for vaccination before setting foot on a plane.
  • 186
    Australia should not prioritise returned travellers for a vaccine.
Travel COVID-19

Comments

  • carling on 01/07/2021 - 19:31
    +3

    I'm 29 got the AZ feel fine, now I'm protected. I'm over the hysteria, just want life to go back to normal.

  • bmerigan on 01/07/2021 - 21:56

    Australia can't vaccinate someone before they get here.
    And once they are here… Too late.

  • Gizardry on 02/07/2021 - 01:09
    +1

    1. Travellers granted travel exemption CAN use this exemption as the eligibility criteria to get themselves vaccinated.

    2. Pfizer vaccines are in a shortage.

    3. You need to wait 12 weeks to get the second dose of AZ.

    4. Vaccines can't make everybody immune to the virus.

    there you have it.

  • georgegeorge31 on 02/07/2021 - 10:43

    The reality is most Australians trying to get home are already vaccinated, because the rest of the world has their shit together.

    How do I know? Because I’m one of the Australians who has been vaccinated by Moderna and is trying to get home.

    Bonus fun though is that Australia doesn’t recognise Moderna yet. Lmfao

    • cnrmlj on 02/07/2021 - 16:19

      What is stopping you getting back to Australia?

      I work with quite a few people who are Indian, based in Australia but have travelled to India in the past 6 months. Two were due to return just as Australia stopped flights from India. Both have now returned. It took them a couple of weeks to sort out their return flights and they were back. A wife of someone else i work with travelled back from Thailand late last year a few weeks after she wanted to.

      I am genuinely curious to know why people are still stuck overseas when the albeit small sample size of people i know have not had too much of an issue in getting back roughly when they wanted to.

      Also fun fact, the US doesn't recognise Astra Zenaca.

      • RockyRaccoon on 02/07/2021 - 23:06
        +1

        I have personal experience with someone being trying to get back.

        Booked flight in Dec, business class. Flight got cancelled. Refund is still being processed, But "approved for payment"

        Got more funds booked in March. Business class (These are the best tickets to get back on). Again cancelled - no word on refund.

        Booked again, Business class for end off next month, thats when they were allowed by airline. Now airline says will probably be cancelled because they dont have spots for passengers to go into quarantine, these are now cut by half.

        Note also quarantine facility slots are also taken up with domestic travellers in some states when lockdowns are implemented.

        Not a flight from US/Europe/England. Its Vietnam.

        So simply thinking that people arent trying isnt understanding whats going on. Keep in mind there is already $15K of funds spent and not refunded. In their case they at least have more funds than others. And it was a family that would be 60-75K tied up.

        They are considering investing in guitar acting and cricket lessons, as it appears, these give you better access than a business class ticket. And you can come and go.

      • georgegeorge31 on 04/07/2021 - 05:14

        The example from RockyRacoon is spot on. Imagine now people who can only afford economy tickets- their flights get cancelled even more.

        Another consideration is that when the pandemic started there was no way for people to know that it would last years, so a lot of people who had say a 1 or 2yr Visa and a secure job and accomodation chose to stay in place. They chose to do this rather than return to no job and no place to live in Australia - and just becoming a burden on the community.

        Now I’m hearing from people all the time who made that responsible choice (backed up by Government messaging to return if vulnerable and shelter in place if not) and now they are either caught in that cancellation loop mentioned already OR they are now being told ‘you should have come back sooner’ and a slammed door in the face.

        There’s so many real stories that aren’t being told - instead everyone is focussing on the leisure or business traveler who has left and entered australia multiple times during this pandemic. Let me assure you, everyone who is stranded is also annoyed at those people. I’d argue they are creating more of a risk than those who have been trying to return for months.

  • cnrmlj on 02/07/2021 - 16:17

    They should get vaccinated in the country they chose to be in for the past X months before being allowed to board a flight to Australia. That would be a much better option. It would also allow the Australian and state governments to focus on the people who chose to be in Australia.

  • neonlight on 03/07/2021 - 09:08
    -1

    Stop the Inflights from overseas especially any links to India. PM tried and got denied by badmouthing as racists, seriously look at what delta variant has done to us. People had so much time before to come back but did not until things gotten worse. That isn't fair to the rest of the population.

    Improve the hotel quarantine it keeps leaking. It's always someone leaking either drivers or workers or incoming travellers

    Get more pfizer vaccine and open up options for anyone including youngsters. Not just middle age or elderly. Poor decision not to take up pfizer offer last year. Put too many things in one basket eg. Astrazeneca and being cheap on citizens isn't a good idea. Lockdown costs more than the vaccines

    Stop hiring ministers who play the blame game, and health ministers do nothing but support antivaxxers. Look at QLD

    More fines should be given to people not following lockdown rules look at Bondi Beach is ridiculous and shameful

    Make it compulsory to have 2 doses of vaccines for any medical and nursing home workers. No jab no work. This should fix the student nurse example

    Give away more incentive to take vaccine. Encourage more people to take the jab. Offer vouchers eg. via service NSW

    That should fix Australia, not just NSW.

  • shangoz on 03/07/2021 - 10:37

    A lot of them want to come back but don't want to stay in Hotel for two weeks because they thought the vaccined good enough to protect them, but, basically no any vaccine company say is 100% protection, also, they can become virus carriers, their self get good protection doesn't mean they are not carry virus.

  • CoreJava on 03/07/2021 - 16:56
    -1

    There is no vaccine against this indian variant. That is why.

  • kashirin on 03/07/2021 - 18:29

    People have such strong opinions on matters they can't change

    And stop being hysterical covid is here to stay and your strong opinions or lockdown and border control will not change the thing even if temprorarily eliminated in Australia

    We've got vaccine. Effective vaccine
    Just get vaccinated and relax - it's better protection than masks, lockdowns and quarantines

    by the way there are reports that delta signficantly less deadly than previous variants. Another reason to relax

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