Border rules relaxed as vax target hit earlier than planned

Published Monday, 15 November, 2021 at 02:30 PM

JOINT STATEMENT

Premier and Minister for the Olympics
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services
The Honourable Yvette D'Ath

Queensland has eased some border restrictions today after reaching a vaccination milestone days ahead of deadline, thanks partly to a strong turnout at school pop-up clinics.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today announced that 70 per cent of the state’s population aged 16 and over were now fully vaccinated.

“Congratulations and thank you, Queensland,” the Premier said.

“We’ve now clicked over the 70 per cent double-dose mark, well ahead of the date we set ourselves. There are now more than 3 million Queenslanders fully vaccinated.

“This means we can relax some of our border restrictions for people travelling from hotspots.”

The Premier said from 5pm today people in interstate hotspots can apply online to travel to Queensland and quarantine at home.

“People who have been in a hotspot in the past 14 days can now enter Queensland and home quarantine if they are fully vaccinated, are arriving by air, have had a negative COVID-19 test in the 72 hours prior to arriving and meet additional criteria,” the Premier said.

“While our home quarantine trial was for returning Queenslanders, anyone can now apply if they believe they meet the eligibility criteria.”

Police will also be issuing emails to anyone already in the queue for a border pass to go online and reapply. This will include uploading a vaccination certificate. Once processed, border passes will be issued.

The Premier said while reaching the 70 per cent milestone was a good achievement, there was still a lot of people still to be vaccinated.

“Our next target is reaching the 80 per cent double-dose mark, at which we will lift even more restrictions. Let’s do this, Queensland,” the Premier said.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said excellent attendance at pop-up vaccination clinics at schools on the weekend helped Queensland reach the target early.

“The turnout was excellent, with more than 9,400 people getting their jabs at 58 schools this weekend,” Minister D’Ath said.

“We currently have more than 65 school pop-up clinics lined up for this weekend with more to add to the list this week, and I expect these will have a significant impact on our vaccination rates once again.

“We particularly want to reach people who are yet to receive their first vaccination. We know there are now more than 820,000 eligible Queenslanders aged 12 and over who are completely unprotected.

“Anyone aged 12 years and over can get vaccinated – and they need to before the border opens and restrictions come in for unvaccinated people. This should be their top priority.”

You can walk into any Queensland Health community vaccination location, including pop-up locations, or register your interest to make a booking at www.health.qld.gov.au/vaccinebookings.

Queensland Health vaccination locations are not the only place you can access the COVID-19 vaccine. To find your nearest participating primary care provider, such as GPs and community pharmacies, visit the Vaccine Eligibility Checker.

ENDS

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