Time is up: Qld border opening date needed to boost jabs ahead of Delta surge

Experts have called for the Queensland Government to jolt complacent residents into getting vaccinated by setting a firm date to reopen the borders to Covid-ravaged NSW and Victoria. VOTE IN THE POLL

Pressure is mounting on the Queensland Government to jolt complacent residents into getting vaccinated by setting a date to open the border to Covid-ravaged New South Wales and Victoria.

Australia’s two most populous states are preparing to reopen and live with Covid-19 as first-dose vaccination rates reach 90 per cent.

However, Queensland health officials are battling a sense of complacency in the virus-free state with residents delaying their first jab due to the lack of an outbreak.

Just 51 per cent of Queenslanders are fully vaccinated while 69 per cent have had at least one dose, with the state not set to hit 80 per cent fully vaccinated until early December.

Some Queensland communities including Cherboug, Isaac and Yarrabah are below 40 per cent of people with a first dose.

There are calls for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to set a date to reopen the border to NSW and Victoria to provide certainty and supercharge the pace of the vaccine rollout.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young on Thursday said the borders could open once everyone had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated – which would likely be early December.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young samples the sausage sizzle at Deception Bay State High School’s vaccination clinic. Picture: Annette Dew

Mater Health Services director of infectious diseases Paul Griffin said the decision to get vaccinated was partly based on the perception of risk and said many residents might believe Queensland may keep the virus out permanently.

He called for the state government to set a vaccination D-Day where borders would open and the virus would likely spread.

“Setting a date and communicating that very clearly would at least help a proportion of people, who might be a bit ambivalent, to get vaccinated.

“It might make some people who are wondering what the benefits might be to take notice of that and perhaps that if they don’t they might miss out.

“It is just a matter of time before we do have to deal with this.”

Sydney-based infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said certainty over Queensland’s reopening would almost certainly spark a rise in the state’s lagging vaccination rates.

“There’s no doubt complacency has crept in in Queensland (and WA) because they have not had to face the alarming outbreaks of NSW or Victoria, so there’s been less urgency to get jabbed,” he said.

“If people were given definitive dates (on the state reopening) they would have a target of when they need to get vaccinated by, because otherwise they would be at risk from the people who will eventually bring Covid into Queensland with them.

“There’s very little doubt that Queensland will be under a lot of pressure with a spike in Covid cases eventually, so it’s incredibly important that Queensland rapidly increases its vaccination rates.”

He said Queensland’s success at keeping Covid at bay was ultimately affecting vaccination rates.

“They’re a victim of their own success,” he said.

“They don’t have the clear and present danger of Sydney or Melbourne.”

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath visits the vaccination clinic at Deception Bay High School. Pic Annette Dew

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath warned Queenslanders to get vaccinated today before it was too late.

“For those people who have been sitting back and going, we don’t have an outbreak here, I can afford to wait, time is up,” she said.

“It’s going to be five to six weeks before people are fully protected if they get vaccinated today, we don’t know what five or six weeks are going to look like in November.

“We don’t know with the virus still in New South Wales, ACT and in Victoria we don’t know what’s coming but we do know the virus will eventually come here and will spread throughout our community.”

Ms D’Ath said Queensland was continuing to lobby the federal government for a significant increase in funding for its at-capacity hospital system before the virus spread.

“We need to work with the Commonwealth to help us deal with this demand because as we open up as a country and as we open domestic borders there’ll be more and more pressure on our hospital system with positive Covid patients,” she said.

Dr Young, who visited the central Queensland towns of Rockhampton and Mackay last week, acknowledged parts of the state had become complacent in delaying the jab.

“They haven’t seen the virus in their community so they were just waiting and watching to see what’s happening and now they’re coming out,” she said.

“I’ve got no concern, I’m positive that they will hear that message – they are hearing that message.”

Queensland recorded no community and three overseas-acquired cases of Covid-19 on Saturday.

Two were detected in hotel quarantine from people recently returned from Papua New Guinea and the third is a mariner on a ship off Cape York.

Ms Palaszczuk on Friday said the borders would only open “when it’s safe to do so” and acknowledged NSW and Victoria’s vaccination rates had increased steadily due to skyrocketing case numbers.

“They’ve had a big outbreak so people have come out and got vaccinated,” she said.

“We’ve had just over 2000 cases during the whole pandemic.”

Originally published as Time is up: Qld border opening date needed to boost jabs ahead of Delta surge