WA Premier Mark McGowan has laid out a roadmap of his own to opening the border with other states. But as Rhiannon Shine explains, some experts are concerned part of the strategy will only further delay WA's already-lagging vaccination rate.
"If you add months on after that then it might actually just slow you getting to 80 per cent in the first place, and that just pushes the horizon out.
"My aim is to stay in our current conditions for as long as we possibly can, get as many people vaccinated as we humanly can, before we think about bringing down borders," the Premier said. But he would not go so far as to concede living with the virus would mean accepting some deaths and hospitalisations.Asked when he needed to start having those tough conversations with people about what the reality of living with COVID in WA might mean, the Premier said it was a conversation to be had once WA had high levels of vaccination.As Professor Bennett points out, WA's success in keeping the virus out is also a major barrier to reaching high levels of vaccination.
"The time now without the virus is precious time where you can go and queue to get the vaccine without worrying the person next to you is quite likely infected.
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