Queensland Shifts Pandemic Focus with CHO Expecting ‘Mild’ Illness for Vaccinated

Queensland's newly appointed Chief Health Officer Dr. John Gerrard speaks during a press conference in Brisbane, Australia, on Dec. 13, 2021. Dan Peled/Getty Images

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, John Gerrard, said that going forward in the pandemic health authorities in the Australian state would be looking for any “exponential increases” in case numbers in the community, and or, in hospitals, with vaccinated cases expected to have “mild” symptoms.

This marks a shift away from monitoring daily case numbers and comes on the day Queensland reopened its borders to allow vaccinated travellers to enter without quarantine so long as they get a negative PCR test within 72 hours of travel.