Originally Posted by
aviation_enthus
Returning Australians are probably more likely to be vaccinated than plebs like you. Wife and I got ours back in March, did Australia even have the Pfizer then?? 😂
Sadly, a high percentage of Australians are equating the lethality of COVID to that of Ebola! Too much reality TV and celebrity worship? Or just the continued erosion of our education system?
However, politicians are drawing mileage out of the public hysteria and their own bungled quarantine and vaccine programs and have halved caps for retuning Australian citizens. They are looking back and not forward! As you indicated, vaccine roll-outs in other First World countries are way ahead of ours. The way forward is to adjust the quarantine system and consider science for vaccinated returnees.
Now if Aussies are equating COVID to Ebola, they are not going to have much consideration for the vaccinated. Politicians can draw mileage again, out of paranoia of the at home Aussies, and leave Australians abroad to the mercy of their circumstances ( who cares? )
So what would science say? A returning Australian is fully vaccinated and COVID tested before departure. They are put into hotel quarantine where finally, staff are vaccinated. What would science say the risks of a COVID leakage now? Requires a vaccinated to vaccinated transmission and then a further transmission into the community. But look what we've done. Instead of moving forwards, it's a backward step to months ago in the pandemic where airliners are coming to Australia empty due slashed caps.
If leaders looked forward, it is not beyond the realm of possibility to repatriate mostly vaccinated Australians. Government charters of unvaccinated Australians where leakage of COVID a historical issue, could se better concentration of quarantine protocols.