It’s a jabs rate race to stall inevitable

Queensland is racing against the clock to boost lagging vaccination rates as it teeters on the edge of another lockdown.

Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young and Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Richard Walker

Queensland is racing against the clock to boost lagging vaccination rates as it teeters on the edge of another lockdown, with Annastacia Palaszczuk warning that Covid would spread through the state “sometime in the near ­future”.

The Queensland Premier held off on locking down the state at the weekend but remains “concerned” about a group of people exposed to the Delta strain at a nail salon in Logan, south of Brisbane, last week.

Contact tracers are still “struggling” to track down the group who visited the salon at the same time as a Covid-infected truck driver.

“It is imperative you get vaccinated because this virus will pop up in the near future,” Ms Palas­zczuk said. “I cannot stress to you enough … if you’re sitting at home and you’re thinking, well, I might just wait, don’t wait.

“Every single person that gets vaccinated is protecting us from having a huge outbreak.”

As of September 4, 34 per cent of eligible Queenslanders were double-dosed compared with 45 per cent in Tasmania and the ACT.

In NSW, 40 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, as the state added another 1485 cases to its Covid tally on Sunday and three deaths.

Seventy per cent of the eligible population has received one dose of the vaccine, which Gladys Bere­jiklian said was “pleasing”.

The NSW Premier blasted other state leaders who had not committed to reopening state borders even when Australia reached its 80 per cent vaccination target.

“Once we hit 80 per cent double dose, all internal borders in Australia should not exist and by that stage NSW would welcome home thousands of Australians every week,” Ms Bere­jiklian said.

“We certainly will not have to have a statewide lockdown ever again when we hit the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination rate, which is what we’re looking forward to.

She warned other state leaders that a major outbreak was imminent, urging them to stick to the national plan.

“NSW has had to confront some issues because a major outbreak happened here first but other states will have to go through this,” she said.

“Victoria is going through it. If you follow the rate of cases at the time we had ours, you will see the pattern.”

Ms Palaszczuk said she was “trying so hard” to move the state’s border checkpoint further south to allow families to reunite, and was continuing discussions with her NSW counterpart.

Separated families gathered along the Queensland/NSW ­border on Father’s Day to share hugs and kisses, despite stay-at-home orders for all NSW ­residents.

Crowds of up to 200 gathered along barricades and Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said police took a “compassionate” approach by handing out several hundred masks rather than fines.

In Victoria, another 183 infections were reported as Premier Daniel Andrews said it was “highly likely” a wide range of public events would be open only to vaccinated people once 80 per cent of Victorians had had two doses.

“We are going to move from a situation where to protect the health system we have everybody locked down … to a situation where to protect the health system we are going to lock out ­people who are not vaccinated and can be,” he said.

“If you’re making the choice not to get vaccinated, then you are making the wrong choice.”

Mr Andrews said people concerned about the impact of corona­virus on children once Australia reopened should be aware that those aged under 12 were considered in the Doherty Institute modelling that formed the basis for national cabinet’s recommendation of achieving 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination thresholds.