EDITORIAL: Covid-19 jab is your ticket to freedom

The Covid-19 vaccine is our chance to break the cycle of border closures, hotspots and expensive stints in quarantine facilities, writes The Sunday Territorian editor.

• Self-quarantine for vaccinated far off for NT: Gunner

ROLL up your sleeves and get vaccinated.

That’s Scott Morrison’s message to lockdown-weary Australians as they go through yet another round of Covid-19 chaos.

The four-phase plan outlined on Friday is the Territory’s shot to end the cycle of border closures, snap lockdowns, panic buying of bog roll and quarantining.

Of particular interest is the idea that vaccinated Aussies will be allowed to self-quarantine at home for seven days, rather than 14 days at some leaky hotel or a donga in Howard Springs.

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This could be the right incentive to turbocharge interest in the vaccine program.

Territorians are sick of the pandemic and they can’t wait to get back to the new normal, and this would give them even more reason to take up the vaccine.

Allowing a shorter isolation period from a hotspot in the comfort of one’s own home will make interstate visits more practical. Even if the isolation period wasn’t shorter, it would definitely be cheaper than paying $2500 per person or $5000 for families.

Scott Morrison said on Friday the science supports this – a person with the jab is more effective isolating for seven days than an unvaccinated person quarantining for 14 days.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 01: A staff member prepares a Pfizer vaccine for clients at the St Vincent's Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic on July 01, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Much of Australia is in lockdown or subject to some form of restriction as community cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant continue to be recorded around Australia. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is available to frontline workers, people with pre-existing health conditions and people in their 40s and 50s, while the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended for people over 60. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday announced an indemnity scheme for general practitioners, saying anyone could receive AstraZeneca at a GP clinic despite vaccine advisory group ATAGI recommending Pfizer as the preferred vaccine for those under 60. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

If backed up by expert advice, then we have to accept this is probably the most logical way to entice people to roll up their sleeves.

A large cohort of Australians have been hesitant since the rollout began to get vaccinated because there’s no immediate danger from the virus, and reports of blood clotting from the AstraZeneca vaccine have unfortunately undermined confidence (despite being far less likely to happen than nasty complications from the actual SARS-CoV-2 virus).

But what high rates of vaccination have always been promised to allow is more freedom from the day-to-day monotony of interstate lockdowns.

A clear plan based around vaccine goals and backed up by science is the best shot we have to get Australians in the queue for their vaccine. The first phase of this is giving vaccinated Aussies their freedoms back.

After 18 months, we’re desperate for normal to return.

The truth is, one day we will have to open our international borders without restrictions, and when that happens, we need everyone – including our vulnerable populations – to be completely ready.

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