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.

"What about those that can't have the vaccine?"

No word on that yet at all. Whilst transmission remains high, they'll probably not be able to travel at all. As it steadies, they may be able to travel with evidence of negative test at time of departure and they may still need to quarantine on arrival.

And if it really drops, then perhaps they will just be allowed to continue - because depending on the numbers involved, they might not materially add to the risk already posed by the 10% (or more?) hose vaccine did not 'take'

All that's speculation of course, but the one think that's pretty certain is that you will need written, recognised medical evidence

chantico fortunately it really isn't your call to make to treat people like lepers. But thanks for that speculation that is likely to be pretty fucking distressing and miserable for people caught on the wrong side of this. As long as the rest of you can jolly off okay though, right?

Fucksake.

@AllPowerfulLizardPerson

Since many airlines are already on the brink, this could push them over the edge

Qantas are already being propped up by the Aussie government.

The island nations which are gong for rigid containment/eradication may well have governments which support these sorts of measures. Especially as at least one of Australia's clusters has been attributed to a quarantine centre.

I don't see travel to NZ being allowed without proof of vaccination (modelled on the yellow fever system)

My point was more in relation to countries whihch aren't pursuing a 'zero Covid' strategy.

For example, is Spain - whose govt has said it's not going to make vaccination mandatory, and whose economy depends to a high degree on tourism - going to insist that anyone flying there is vaccinated? Which would likely mean that the young people and families who are the lifeblood of much of its tourism industry would be unable to visit for perhaps another year or more?

Australia’s biggest tourist markets are China and New Zealand (about 1.3 million visits a year). UK is quite a way down the list.

New Zealand is planning to vaccinate as many people as possible from what I’ve seen plans are quite well developed to allow us to do this as rapidly as possible.

Both NZ and Australia also have a duty to our smaller Pacific neighbours to protect them from the virus which would in all likelihood be disastrous. Pacific populations have been very badly affected in the USA and Auckland’s second cluster also affected the community badly too.

International travel won’t look “normal” for a long time and I suspect may go back to being a luxury.

@Pikachubaby

It’s not “silly”, it’s a clever way to group people who have any doubts or questions about this brand new virus (and how it’s dealt with), under the anti-vaxers/flat-earthward/total idiots.

I am not an anti-vaxer... but I am wary of this new vaccine as my confidence in the current gvt is very low, and they keep lying and feeding us false stats to ensure compliance. So I do not trust them.

So I’d like to wait and see a bit

Do you mean the UK government? And which vaccine are you referring to?

They're not linked.

People are getting very worked up. The airlines will protect their business model- if they think requiring a vaccine will send them broke they won’t do it. Obviously. So far we have one statement, whatever policy they put in place will probably allow for some of the various situations discussed, all we can do is wait and see.
Flying qantas is a pretty optional activity so if you don’t want to, don’t. Australia’s borders are still closed so there is plenty of time to sort the detail out on this, and mandatory vaccinations are normal for some travel and have been for a long time. I can’t see why people are getting so worked up about this.

UK is quite a way down the list.

Fourth according to the list I have seen. Behind NZ, China and the USA.

The Australian pm is in the news for planning continue the 2 weeks quarantine requirements (Self funded) for those without a vaccination certificate and the article in our business newspaper, ie reputable, says most major airlines are expected to adopt similar rules to the ones qantas have suggested. I expect there will be medical exemptions to vaccination but not sure about quarantine. Australia is pretty pro vaccinating, our pm said there will be little tolerance for anti vaxxers.