PM pushing ahead with plan to reopen at 70 per cent vaccination rate

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has fired up saying that Australia needs to open up when we hit our vaccination targets.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared Australia must move to end the lockdowns once the vaccination rate hits 70 per cent declaring a new dawn of greater freedoms is not far away.

Bluntly warning that state premiers we cannot “stay in the cave forever”, the Prime Minister has warned Australians must accept greater daily case numbers when the economy reopens.

But he stressed lower rates of deaths and hospitalisation as vaccines provide greater protection.

“We can‘t stay in the cave forever. That’s not sustainable,’’ he said.

“We have to move forward. We cannot hold back. Our task between that day and now is to ensure that we ready ourselves for that next phase.

“Cases will not be the issue once we get above 70 per cent. Dealing with serious illness, hospitalisation, ICU capabilities, our ability to respond in those circumstances, that will be our goal and we will live with this virus as we live with other infectious diseases. That’s what the national plan is all about, was always about, that’s how we designed it.”

RELATED: Follow our NSW blog for live coronavirus updates

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

RELATED: Follow our Victorian blog for live coronavirus updates

Mr Morrison said he understood some would try and undermine the end to the lockdowns but it was now a case of “if not now, when?”.

“We must make that move and we must prepare to make that move and we must prepare the country to make that move,‘’ he said.

“The lockdowns now being endured are taking an extremely heavy toll both on the mental and physical health of Australians and on the economic success of Australia. It is taking a heavy toll and so they must only continue for as long as they are absolutely necessary and not a day more.

“It is always darkest before the dawn and I think these lockdowns are a demonstration of that but the dawn is not far away and we are working towards that dawn and we are hastening towards the dawn. We should not delay it, we should prepare for it. We should not fear it, we should embrace it and we should move forward together.

“There will be those who will seek to undermine the national plan. There will be those who will seek to undermine confidence in it. I think their motives are clear. But there are also those who may fear it and have concerns. Our goal must be to help people overcome those fears and not give in to them because this can‘t go on forever.”

The Prime Minister accused state leaders who were deviating from the road map of undermining the incentive to get vaccinated.

“That is why we encourage everybody to get vaccinated but we will know when we hit that 70 per cent and the 80 per cent mark, we will see an even higher level of vaccination rates amongst the most elderly who are the most vulnerable to fatality as a result of COVID-19,” he said.

“So, we have a plan. We are making great progress to achieve the goals of that plan and that’s what I think gives Australians great hope to endure through what will still be a difficult time in the months ahead. We need to stay focused.

“The national plan we have developed and agreed is our pathway to living with this virus. That is our goal - to live with this virus, not to live in fear of it. It is a plan based on the best possible scientific, medical and economic advice.

“There will be risk attached to it, but there is also risk by remaining stuck where we are. We have to break the cycle, the national plan is the way to cut through, and for us to emerge from this Groundhog Day has to end. And it will end when we start getting to 70 per cent and 80 per cent.”

People queueing to receive their vaccination at the mass vax hub at Sydney Olympic Park. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles