Trial allowing vaccinated Australians to travel overseas could start in six weeks.
Pilot program for immunized people to leave and return under relaxed restrictions could begin soon, Greg Hunt tells colleagues.
Australians who have been vaccinated against Covid would be able to leave the country and return with less strict quarantine requirements under a plan that could be trialed within six weeks.
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, revealed the proposal in the Coalition party room on Tuesday following a question from Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who had asked whether vaccination could see people exempted from outbound and inbound travel restrictions.
With Australia struggling to vaccinate its population by the end of 2021, there is pressure on the federal government to provide incentives to get the jab and to ease the travel ban that has separated families.
About 40,000 Australians remain stranded overseas due to flight caps imposed as a result of limited hotel quarantine beds.
Exemptions would be extended to people vaccinated in Australia or in countries where vaccination status can be reliably verified – such as the UK, US, Canada and Singapore.
Australians are already able to travel to New Zealand and back without going into hotel quarantine. It’s the only country currently categorised as a “green zone” via the trans-Tasman travel bubble.
A spokesman for Hunt told Guardian Australia “the minister had previously stated on a number of occasions that vaccination may bring forward the capacity of vaccinated people to travel”.
“Today’s advice [to the party room] was consistent with that,” he said. “No advice has been received.”
Will this incentive motivate more Australians to get vaccinated?
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