Queensland top doctors push for state border reopening date
Top doctors from the Australian Medical Association are urging the Queensland government to set a date for border reopening, with hopes it will push more residents to get vaccinated.
More than 47,000 Queenslanders got the jab yesterday, with the state recording no new COVID-19 cases for seven consecutive days.
But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said vaccination rates were not yet high enough to open the border, insisting that children should also be vaccinated prior to reopening.
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Residents on opposite sides of the NSW and Queensland border gather from each state. 9News
"The TGA has told Pfizer that it can apply for approval for five to 11-year-olds. The leader of the opposition said I was scaremongering," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"We are currently on phase A of the national plan and that plan is to get people vaccinated."
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More than a dozen Queensland residents left stranded by border restrictions have taken up residence in tents at the Murwillumbah Showground. 9News
The Australian Medical Association supported the vaccination of children but said the state's priority should be on reopening the country.
"(Children) don't get very sick usually and they don't normally spread it badly," Dr Chris Perry said.
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Hard border restrictions have been in place for much of the year. 9News
He added that with no reopening plan, Queenslanders could become complacent about getting the jab.
"No plan means that people will put it off," he said.
"We need to add a sense of urgency to people.
"You're all going to get COVID-19. The COVID vaccine takes five weeks to work properly."
The national reopening plan hinges on 80 per cent of the eligible population being fully vaccinated, a figure the Queensland premier has refused to commit to.
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