No place for kneejerk reactions

As national cabinet prepares to meet on Wednesday amid concerns about the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, two points are clear. First, Australians need to take advantage of booster shots, of which 13 million are available at 9000 distribution points around the nation, Scott Morrison says. Second, all jurisdictions should follow the example of NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in refusing to tighten restrictions, especially related to travel and avoiding lockdowns. The nation is open and needs to stay open. From available accounts, the Omicron variant is a milder illness than the Delta variant. One of the problems, judging by experience overseas, is that fully vaccinated people may not know they have the Omicron variant.

Australia has reached the milestone of more than 90 per cent of people fully vaccinated with two shots. But Oxford University data shows that only 5.2 per cent of Australians – about a million people – have received their third shot. This puts us on a par with New Zealand but well behind much of the world, including Chile (52 per cent), Britain (41 per cent), the United Arab Emirates and Malta (each 33 per cent) and much of Europe, where booster rates generally exceed 20 per cent. Many Australians were vaccinated later than people overseas. But the time frame for boosters here has been cut from six months to five months.

The potential of Omicron to wreak economic and travel havoc is clear. In last week’s mid-year budget update, which forecast growth of 4.5 per cent this financial year and 4.25 growth next financial year, Josh Frydenberg included the expectation that “we’re not going to see Omicron derail the recovery”. Some in the community are less certain. A survey of 1500 people by the Tourism and Transport Forum shows that three-quarters of those travelling in December and January are reconsidering their plans. More than half had no confidence in borders remaining open, with Western Australia and Queensland seen as the most likely to shut their borders at a moment’s notice. Governments need to reassure the public that is not the case.

Mr Perrottet is correct in urging the NSW community to take responsibility for their health and seek out boosters. The key metric, he said, was intensive care unit presentations rather than the daily caseload. Most people presenting to ICU facilities, currently 28 people in NSW, he said, appeared to be unvaccinated. Summer may not be looking as smooth as many hoped. But with 13 million booster shots ready, the nation is well positioned to minimise the impact of the Omicron variant.