Australians will begin using an international vaccine passport within weeks to prove their immunisation status overseas and on their return as the Prime Minister flags home quarantine will be key to reopening borders.
Scott Morrison is also asking state and territory leaders how they plan to integrate vaccination certificates into existing check-in apps and for their timelines on introducing home quarantine.
The federal government will start issuing international COVID-19 vaccination certificates from October and is also in talks with other countries to work out which vaccines will be recognised in international travel bubble arrangements.
The Australian vaccine passports for international travel will be available either on travellers’ phones or in printed form. Mr Morrison has previously promised overseas travel can resume more broadly when states reach the 80 per cent full vaccination threshold. So far 39 per cent of the eligible population – or more than 8 million Australians aged 16 and over – are fully vaccinated.
“Home quarantine is where we go next. And the length of that quarantine also was what we’re looking at,” Mr Morrison said on Tuesday.
Work is under way to enable people’s vaccination status to be linked to their passport chips, and in late July a plan was put to the federal cabinet for Australians to get an international vaccine certificate in the form of a QR code. It would also use “visible digital seal” technology backed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Currently all travellers to Australia must undertake a mandatory two-week quarantine at their first port of arrival regardless of vaccination status, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said.
The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, led by chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly, is considering the different quarantine options that could apply to vaccinated people entering Australia. It’s still unclear which vaccines will allow arrivals to forgo strict hotel quarantine.
The US allows people fully immunised with either US-approved jabs or vaccines authorised for emergency use by the World Health Organisation, including the AstraZeneca vaccine, to self-monitor for symptoms and get tested a few days after entering the country. Those without recognised vaccines must quarantine for a week.
A spokesman for cabinet minister Stuart Robert said more details about Australia’s plan would be released shortly.
“The Morrison government continues to work towards vaccine assurance standards that will be one element of enabling vaccinated Australians to move and travel more freely,” he said.
The Prime Minister said home quarantine was also key.
“Home quarantine needs to be at scale and needs to be tested and ready, and that’s what’s happening now, and that’s what I’ll continue to push to open the country up because that’s what enables the national plan,” he said in a Sky News interview.
“I’ll be following up last Friday’s [national cabinet] meeting with the premiers, writing them looking to get some timetables about their introduction of home quarantine, but also following up this issue of the integration of our technology that can enable fully vaccinated theatres, fully vaccinated events.”
Source: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-issuing-vaccine-passports-within-weeks-to-prepare-for-flights-resuming-20210906-p58p58.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0Qq3t-lKFNHgZCcOHSLYrkvsc5B_QDwjWwCKieuERyYr7snPn02Ix15aU#Echobox=1631046054