Gladys Berejiklian warned to take a ‘cautious’ approach to opening up with only 70 per cent of adults fully vaccinated

Premier Gladys Berejiklian was urged to be “cautious” about re-opening the state once 70 per cent of people were vaccinated, a new report suggests.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was reportedly warned to take a “cautious” approach to reopening the state once 70 per cent of adults were fully vaccinated.

Ms Berejiklian today unveiled a roadmap to re-opening businesses including pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, cinemas, gyms, stadiums and racecourses once 70 per cent of people had received both doses of the vaccine.

NSW is on track to reach that figure by October 18, with the lockdown likely to end a week later.

However, health advice provided by NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant to the crisis cabinet ahead of the decision warned that any reopening had to be very cautious if less than 85 per cent of the population was double vaccinated, according to Sky News Australia.

“To reduce the risk of a UK/Israel type scenario after reopening, it will require a cautious approach to reopening and ongoing public health measures and restrictions while achieving a high level of vaccination ie 85 per cent or more fully vaccinated population (16 and over) as quickly as possible,” the advice reportedly said.

It also suggested that as many children (aged 12-15 years old) as possible be vaccinated to prevent transmission among this age group and their households.

“NSW does not have the same level of protection afforded in other countries at the same level of vaccination coverage so needs to adopt a more cautious approach to avoid high levels of ongoing transmission, especially in a few months once the initial vaccination protection may start to wane,” the advice states.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant (left) and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian arrive at a press conference. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

There are lower levels of natural immunity in Australia as not many people have been infected by the coronavirus so vaccination levels have to be higher to gain the same level of protection being experienced in other countries with higher numbers of cases.

The advice also noted that some people who had got their jabs in March would likely have reduced protection now compared to those vaccinated more recently.

Countries like Israel have begun providing booster shots to their populations after Covid cases again began to rise following the emergence of the Delta variant.

Dr Chant was asked at a press conference today whether she preferred an 85 per cent vaccination threshold for re-opening, but replied that she wanted to “reframe”.

“I’m really very excited by the way that the community is embracing immunisation,” she said.

“We’ll get to 80 per cent (first doses) by Monday or Tuesday … I’m really confident that I do not think we are going to get vaccine hesitancy, until a high level.

“I think people understand how significant Covid is, and the fact that the vaccines are safe and effective and will embrace them.”

Dr Chant said she was also pleased 12 to 15 year olds would also have access to vaccine starting from around the middle of September.

“All of that gives me a degree of confidence, but the community has to also do these next hard yards.”

She said the next four weeks was going to be tough.

“I know you’ve been locked down and you know you’re starting to see the sunshine and those rays of hope, please do not take risks while we’re in this period, we do not need any super spreading events we do not need any seeding in the regions.

“We just do not need anything else, as we work to drive the case numbers down and leverage our response off the back of the vaccine uptake that we’ve seen.”