The Queensland government has cited slow vaccination uptake in some regional areas as the reason why the Australian state might not reopen its borders to interstate and international travellers until 2022.
This is despite Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk agreeing to the national cabinet’s plan to reopen the country once 80 percent vaccination coverage is achieved across both her state and the entire country.
Currently, the 80 percent vaccination target is expected to be achieved by the end of November, according to The Courier Mail.
Palaszczuk said she wanted an “even spread” of COVID-19 vaccination across Queensland. Whereas current data shows that uptake has been greater in the southeast areas of Brisbane, Noosa, and Goondiwindi.
“We are working out when we will get to 80 percent double vaccination,” Palaszczuk said, according to The Courier Mail.
“But like I said, I want that evenly spread across the state.”
“It’s not if, or maybe, it is when,” she said on Monday.
She went on to say that the question of “who’s going to get this virus” was “going to be those people who aren’t vaccinated.”
But this does not match the advice of the Queensland chief health officer, who has said multiple times that the CCP virus can be caught and transmitted by both those who are vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Meanwhile, speaking of vaccination targets, D'Ath pointed to the 400 deaths and 60,000 cases in neighbouring state of New South Wales, saying the danger of the Delta variant was genuine and that it was the “mission” of residents to get themselves vaccinated to protect themselves from the COVID-19 disease.
“If someone wants a target, the target is getting yourself protected in the next five to six weeks,” D'Ath said.
“That is your mission. Get yourself protected, and that helps protect our whole community and allows us to open up.”
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