Qantas will require proof of vaccination

[PaddyF0dder]

www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-australia-55048438

Personally I’m delighted. Decisive action like this is required to ensure we emerge from the pandemic.

Vaccination remains voluntary. But like any other choice, it comes with consequences.

Hopefully other airlines will follow.

@DameEdnaFitzgerald

I don’t understand why people are losing their shit over this. Vaccine certificates are required for travel in some parts of the world already. Yellow Fever for example.

Quite. I've carried vaccination evidence abroad for 40 years. One more won't make any difference at all. And these days the information could be linked to biometrics in passports and other ID. Anyone who doesn't care about travelling, then they don't need the vaccine. I suspect mousy airlines will follow suit, but even if they don't, most people don't appear to have read any travel insurance policies recently. It's now a pretty standard clause that you will only be covered for travel if you have had the vaccine when one is avaliable. It had been for months now!

Excellent, I hope other airlines do the same.

Many not mousy!

Many airlines and tourist destinations may not be able to afford to wait though. Especially if such a requirement means families with children - who aren't going to be vaccinated for some time - are banned from travelling. - @IcedPurple

Well that would be dependant on the government's restrictions, and not the call of the airlines. And as I said I doubt the government will want to risk potentially grinding the country to a halt.

I highly doubt they'd risk letting people in who could potentially spread covid and cause yet another wave. It would literally undermine all the work that governments have done to try and stop the spread so far. What would be the point of all these lockdowns if countries are going to reopen borders to every unvaccinated Tom, Dick and Harry?

If it's a country which has closed its borders and pursued a zero Covid strategy like Australia, then yes. But there are only a handful such countries.

@Suzi888

It isn’t available for everyone and you can’t pay for it privately .

Yet. I expect it to available privately in the same way that the flu vaccine is once the NHS has done their bit. Might take a while, but I think it will happen like this.

Well that would be dependant on the government's restrictions, and not the call of the airlines. And as I said I doubt the government will want to risk potentially grinding the country to a halt.

But if the country in question isn't imposing compulsory vaccination on its own population, why would allowing in visitors from similarly at risk countries "risk potentially grinding the country to a halt"?

Maybe testing for immunity would make more sense instead of vaccinating a really low risk population?

Cost of antibody test about £50 - cost of T-cell test probably more

Cost of Oxford jab £3, Pfizer £15

I don't think we can afford all those blood tests, and the individual travellers might prefer to get the jab (even if you have to add on clinic costs - which of course that'd also have to pay for the blood tests)

Wouldn’t all air lines that fly to Australia have to then agree to have the same policy? Or the unvaccinated will just fly BA instead. Assuming Australia let’s them in of course.

@IcedPurple

Well that would be dependant on the government's restrictions, and not the call of the airlines. And as I said I doubt the government will want to risk potentially grinding the country to a halt.

But if the country in question isn't imposing compulsory vaccination on its own population, why would allowing in visitors from similarly at risk countries "risk potentially grinding the country to a halt"?

Are there any countries that impose compulsory vaccinations?

Maybe if they don't get a good uptake they will implement them.

I can imagine children under 18 being exempt from proof of vaccination. The vaccines won’t be licensed for use in under 18’s, at least not for a while until the (separate) clinical trials finish. TUI really will go bust if they have to delay all those top dollar school summer holidays til 2022.

Unvaccinated doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not immune and vaccinated doesn’t necessarily mean that you are immune. We should probably refer to people as immune/non-immune rather than vaccinated/unvaccinated. It shouldn’t really matter what way you have gained immunity.

Alan Joyce is a very savvy operator. I’m sure there will be adjustments to allow for availability, and he wouldn’t make up that this is the discussion between international carriers. I doubt Qantas will go under, they have planned their cash to allow minimal to no intnl flights next year.

Just reiterating that the Qantas CEO was clear that other international carriers were seriously considering this step also.

I think it’d be naive to believe only one Aussie carrier will be implementing this rule, or that it’s connected to the Aussie particular situation of population/Covid rates.

Air services (anywhere) can’t afford a repeat of a global lockdown, or the PR disaster of becoming a premier mode of Covid transmission. Seems an obvious next step for them, doesn’t it?

Makes their passengers feel safer, makes for easier transit between countries with wildly different rules, gets some travel happening faster, gets them points with several major governments, increases the take-up of the vaccines (growing their PR and customer base). Why on earth wouldn’t they all subscribe to a ‘no vac, no pack’ policy?

Alan Joyce won’t have made this decision in isolation. Whatever you think of him and his company (I’m not a particular fan) he’s a very smart business operator.

I’m sure other airlines will follow suit, and he has quite possibly just pre-empted some sort of government decision - the government has controlled the borders very strictly and flagged that this will continue at least for next year.

The vast majority of cases we have here are in returned overseas travellers and when it gets into the community - like recent instances in Melbourne and Adelaide - there has been a failure in the hotel quarantine protocols somewhere.

There has been no announcement, but there is no way the government will just open the borders unconditionally in a free-for-all.

Sorry OP but there’s no way that all airlines will miss out on crucial revenue from travellers who aren’t able to get the vaccine (through no fault of their own - they are simply further down the pecking order for receiving it). The salivating over more misery on this thread is absolutely crazy. And the reason I don’t often visit this board.

What on earth are you talking about @texascactus?? No one is salivating over misery - they are discussing potential ramifications of one company’s commercial decision.

Think i'd rather have the vaccine and fly Qantas thannflynwirh Qatar and be subjected to an intimate examination just because im female.

I can't get het up about this. Other vaccines with certificate proof are required in some countries already.
Australia already has a mandatory child vaccination program with those optongbout losing child care and welfare benefits. Compulsory does not actually mean being pinned down to get jabbed.

Im sure Ryanair will let anyone fly without a certificate, for an €50 fee of course!

100% with you @PaddyF0dder..Melb just beginning to accept international flights again-after everything Victorians have been through(myself included though now back in QLD) last thing this country needs is people bringing it in with them..

Another thing which may prompt travel-loving anti-vaxxers to get it, is even if an airline permits them to fly, they are likely to be forced to pay for their own quarantine hotel room. I heard that Singapore originally paid for their strict quarantine in a hotel, but are now passing the cost onto the traveller.

@texascactus

Sorry OP but there’s no way that all airlines will miss out on crucial revenue from travellers who aren’t able to get the vaccine (through no fault of their own - they are simply further down the pecking order for receiving it). The salivating over more misery on this thread is absolutely crazy. And the reason I don’t often visit this board.

Really, in a world where money is king and sue people for money is a popular sport, you think any airline is going to risk someone suing them for not doing enough to protect them from Covid? My local council got sued by someone who slipped on wet leaves in a park in autumn on a rainy day!!!! But that will not be all that important compared to the risk of travelling uninsured - if you haven't had the vaccine then that would very likely invalidate your whole policy. Broken leg in Switzerland - you problem. Luggage lost in San Francisco - your problem. Covid in Rio - also your problem.

There is no way anyone is going to risk being sued for not taking proper precautions, and that will be vaccination. Anyone not wishing to travel, they won't care about - there are plenty of people willing to vaccinate to travel, and always have been. They won't miss the few who won't.

@IcedPurple

Yellow fever vaccines aren’t compulsory for residents of countries where visitors have to be vaccinated to gain entry.

Which countries are we talking about? Are they major tourist destinations?

Somewhere that I’ve been in Central / South America you had to carry a yellow fever vaccination certificate or risk getting a mandatory vaccine. It might have been somewhere in Brazil. P

@DianaT1969 it is the same in Australia - initially the government paid for the mandatory hotel quarantine for all people returning from overseas, now they are passing the cost on to the traveller.

I think everyone is jumping on this vaccine way too quickly

I will not be flying anyway, but neither will I take this vaccine (until it’s been tested a bit more, long term effects, and also wait and see hit Covid will mutate)

It’s all too fast for me, no thanks