Signs of hope as Perrottet fast-tracks NSW reopening

As Scott Morrison says, the achievement of NSW in becoming the first state to hit the 70 per cent double vaccination mark should give hope to other jurisdictions. So should Premier Dominic Perrottet’s decision to fast-track the lockdown plan agreed under Gladys Berejiklian. Mr Perrottet is sticking with Monday as the start-up date for reopening. But some aspects of normal life and freedoms will return sooner than expected. One of the most important is that school will resume as scheduled for kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 12 on October 18. All other grades will be back in their classrooms on October 25, a week to a fortnight earlier than envisaged originally. NSW also is closing in on a further major easing of restrictions, including travel. More than 89 per cent of the state’s citizens over the age of 16 have had their first jabs.

The goal of all states and territories under the plan agreed by national cabinet, as the Prime Minister said, is to open safely and to stay open. After a long haul playing catch-up with the vaccine rollout, the nation is forging ahead with vaccinations. Vaccination rates for children in NSW and Victoria also have surged as families look forward to the return to school. More than half the population aged 16 and older in Queensland and Western Australia, the laggard states during the rollout, are fully vaccinated. As Mr Morrison said, encouraging vaccinations in those states has been harder because they have not had the immediate urgency of NSW, Victoria and the ACT with extended lockdowns. Queensland also has taken a positive step moving towards home quarantine

Some regions need urgent attention, however. Vaccination rates in large parts of Queensland remain dangerously low despite warnings from health officials that Covid-19 could be circulating in the community by the Christmas holidays. Figures obtained by The Australian show the adult population of some remote pockets of the state have significantly lower ­vaccination rates than average. In Hope Vale, a local government area north of Port Douglas, only 30 per cent of the adult population have had one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Only 5.2 per cent of Hope Vale citizens are fully vaccinated. In the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire on the east coast of Cape York in far north Queensland, 61.1 per cent of the adult population have had their first dose but only 7.9 per cent have had both. Only 32 per cent of Yarrabah residents have had their first dose and only 18 per cent are fully vaccinated. Local resident Alfie Neal, who is about 98, says on Thursday that the Palaszczuk government, elders and the local community need to do more to encourage people in the 2500-member community to be vaccinated. Yarrabah residents would be highly vulnerable if the virus took hold. But, as Mr Neal has found, young people are worried about it and need better education.

There is no room for complacency in any state. “Covid will certainly come”, as Mr Morrison warned on Thursday. Under the Delta variant that was true of every part of the world, he said. High vaccination rates were the key to withstanding it. Amid the upbeat mood in NSW, the Australian Medical Association also issued a sobering warning against recklessness at a critical time and the potential for “avoidable deaths”. After the notable absence of the state’s chief health officer, Kerry Chant, at Mr Perrottet’s press conference announcing the fast-tracking of the opening-up process, AMA president Omar Khorshid slammed “the potential sidelining of public health advice”. Dr Khorshid said the AMA supported the gradual opening up of the economy. But it was critical to observe the impact of each step on transmission and case numbers. Otherwise, he said, NSW hospitals would become “completely overwhelmed” despite high vaccination rates. The timing is right, but vigilance will be vital as Monday’s reopening marks the start of a significant new chapter in the nation’s management of the pandemic.