Subscriber • Opinion

Australia isn't ready for COVID-19 vaccine passports, but we soon may not have a choice

By John Quiggin
Updated July 28 2021 - 11:03am, first published July 27 2021 - 5:00am
By the end of the year, it's likely that nearly all national borders, except perhaps Australia's, will open to fully vaccinated arrivals. Picture: Shutterstock
By the end of the year, it's likely that nearly all national borders, except perhaps Australia's, will open to fully vaccinated arrivals. Picture: Shutterstock

To understand the future of vaccination policy in Australia, it's worth looking at two numbers from France. More than 100,000 people demonstrated on Saturday against the country's "vaccine passport" policy, which excludes unvaccinated people from bars, restaurants and other indoor venues, far more than the protests here in Australia. But in the week after the policy was announced on 12 July, a record 3.7 million French citizens signed up for vaccination. That's around 20 per cent of the unvaccinated population, and it's that number, not the number on the streets, that's driving policy decisions.

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