It’s bad news for the anti-vaxxers of the world because Prime Minister Scott Morrison essentially just hinted that the only way you’ll be able to enter Australia without a vaccination is after a two week quarantine, at your own expense.
The news comes after Qantas announced that all passengers will require proof of vaccination before boarding any Qantas international flights.
“For international travellers, we will ask people to have a vaccination before they get on the aircraft,’’ Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told A Current Affair on Monday.
The PM seemed to echo a similar sentiment, announcing that the current plan being discussed by the government is vaccination or quarantine.
“We’re obviously working through those issues now, but look, where people have the choice of two weeks of quarantine or being vaccinated, I think that will be an incentive, unless there’s a genuine medical reason why,” Morrison told KISS FM on Wednesday.
“We’ve got a lot of those issues to work through and so do all the other countries.”
Considering the cost of hotel quarantine will usually set you back a couple of thousand dollars, the new plan is meant to incentivise getting the COVID vaccination.
Nothing has been finalised yet, with the government still weighing up options, but as it currently stands, both Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt seem to be on the same page about international travel.
“So there’s been no final decision, but we’ve been clear, and I’ve given guidance previously that we would expect that people coming to Australia while COVID-19 is a significant disease in the world will either be vaccinated or they will isolate. That’s early guidance,’’ Hunt said.
“The likely course of events during 2021 is if somebody comes to Australia and a vaccine is widely available, either they’ll be vaccinated with verification or they’ll have to quarantine.”
However, it is worth noting that Scott Morrison has also confirmed that a vaccine won’t be required by law for Australians. So basically, you don’t *have* to get vaxxed, but if you don’t, expect to either stay in Australia forever, or pay out the wazoo for quarantine costs.
