Added vaccines are the right medicine for recovery

An extra four million doses of Pfizer vaccine on its way from Britain will allow the nation formally to shift gear in its pandemic response as the reality of eradication as a failed policy finally hits home. With the number of infections continuing to rise in NSW and Victoria, already under lockdown, attention rightly has swung from case numbers to vaccination rates and hospital admissions. It is understandable that leaders in Western Australia and Queensland will want to keep their states free of Covid-19 for as long as possible. But they should be using this time to ramp up vaccinations and to invest in increased hospital capacity. The time for interstate rivalry has passed.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is losing support of Labor colleagues federally and has been accused of misreading Doherty Institute research on the road map to open borders. She had argued that opening up would lead to 2240 deaths a month, something Scott Morrison said was the “worst-case scenario”, not the plan. Earlier in the week, Ms Palaszczuk attempted to muddy negotiations to reopen nationally with a demand that all children be vaccinated first, something that has not happened anywhere in the world.

At some point all leaders, including Anthony Albanese, will have to come to grips with the reality that has been grasped by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – that Covid zero is not going to be possible. If they don’t, it is likely they will face a High Court challenge on the issue. Federal Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has said legal arguments upholding the validity of state border closures will weaken once the nation hits 80 per cent vaccination coverage. As Dennis Shanahan wrote on Friday: “The time for weasel words is over on rogue premiers.” Mr Andrews, facing a rising Covid rate, has shifted ground as the pre-eminent Labor government leader and he has done so without criticising the Prime Minister or the other premiers. The partisan squabbling between Victoria and NSW over the speed and harshness of lockdowns has hit a dead end. The reality is, unless borders are unlocked in the future, states risk losing scarce talent, resources and corporate headquarters to places where greater freedoms are permitted.

The extra Pfizer doses on their way from Britain will be repaid by Australia towards the end of the year. Mr Morrison says increased supplies of Pfizer will help bring forward the opportunity for Australia to open up again under the national plan once vaccination rates reach between 70 and 80 per cent. Current rates are 61.3 per cent of eligible people having received a first dose of vaccine and 37.1 per cent fully vaccinated. The number of fully vaccinated will increase rapidly as the Pfizer vaccine requires only three weeks between doses. Vaccine hesitancy has lessened dramatically, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying almost everybody is keen to get vaccinated, and the challenge has been supply, which now largely has been resolved.

Having surrendered the idea of being able to lock down back to Covid zero, Mr Andrews says his state is working on a “detailed and comprehensive road map” of what life will look like once at least 80 per cent of the state’s population has received two doses of Covid vaccine. The Victorian Premier has revealed a new level of co-operation with the federal government and the focus now is on hospitalisations and health system capacity. National cabinet was given a briefing on Friday on whether hospitals would be able to cope. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and chief medical officer Paul Kelly said they had “confidence in all of the states’ and territories’ preparedness”.

Mr Morrison says the national plan will allow Australians to travel overseas once their state hits the 80 per cent vaccination rate even if some states retain hard border closures preventing interstate travel. Concerns over the ability of businesses to insist that workers be vaccinated appear to be receding with increased appetite for vaccinations in the community. The next challenge will be acceptance for different rights for vaccinated and non-vaccinated people in the community. In the end, however, as results of detailed YouGov polling this week showed, most people in the community are keen to get on with their lives. Leaders must harness that enthusiasm to coax communities through the remaining lockdowns with confidence. The economy was given a reprieve in June quarter national accounts figures that make it less likely there will be a double-dip recession. But, as Patrick Commins reports on Saturday, with the total fiscal stimulus during August totalling $6.5bn, less than one-quarter of the $27bn monthly stimulus during the June quarter last year, business needs a quick end to restrictions to ensure a repeat of the V-shaped bounce back experienced after the first lockdown. The rising level of vaccinations provides a positive message on which to build a recovery. Emotionally and practically, a helping hand from Britain is just what is needed.