International border will reopen for states that reach 80 target as country scores more Pfizer

States that have fully vaccinated 80 per cent of people aged 16 and over will be able to resume international travel, the Prime Minister said as he announced a new deal that will see Australia receive more than 10 million doses of coronavirus vaccines this month.

In a vaccine swap with the UK, Australia will get a further 4 million Pfizer doses this month, on top of the 500,000 doses from a deal with Singapore announced earlier this week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Friday’s vaccine update.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the UK deal doubles the number of Pfizer doses available in September. Throughout the month, Australia will receive more than 9 million doses of Pfizer alongside 1 million Moderna doses and continued AstraZeneca supply.

“From Downing Street to Down Under we are doubling down on the Pfizer doses available to us,” he said.

“The plane’s on the tarmac now, it will be leaving tomorrow and those [Pfizer] doses will be coming over the course of the next few weeks.”

The UK’s high commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, says it’s a privilege to be able to support Australians by helping to accelerate the vaccine rollout down under.

More than 20.3 million doses have been administered across the country so far, and vaccinations continue at a rate of roughly 1.8 million doses a week. Health Minister Greg Hunt noted the country was 2 million doses away from reaching 70 per cent of everyone aged 16 and over having had first doses, but Mr Morrison would not say when the government expects the same proportion to be fully vaccinated.

“What I do know is that rates of vaccination that we’re seeing means we’re getting close to that every single day,” he said.

“There’s no magic in a day, there’s no health protection in a day. What there is protection in is having reached a level of vaccination in the community”.

The national recover plan says once states and the country reaches 80 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated, the cap on return travellers will be lifted and all restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated Australians will go.

When asked if he could see that applying to states that reach 80 per cent even if some jurisdictions had not yet vaccinated that many people, Mr Morrison said he could.

“Yes, I can. The National Plan sets that out very clearly,” he said. “The national plan was agreed by all states and territories. It’s a plan that is actually going to see Australia open up again and move forward again.”

The plan is not without risks, but the Prime Minister said it was safe.

“It sees a soft opening, as you ease into a more broad opening when you hit 80 per cent. That’s the nature of the plan, and that’s why I believe states and territory supported it - it wasn’t an all-or-nothing plan.”

His comments come after continued disquiet from West Australia and Queensland about the plan to start relaxing restrictions including state border closures once 70 per cent of the eligible population has had two doses. National cabinet is meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss updated modelling from the Doherty Institute and the plan for bolstering the country’s health systems and restrictions begin to relax.

Initial estimates had the country reaching that double dose vaccination rate by the end of the year. Mr Morrison said he believes it will be achieved much sooner, but only if people continue to come forward for vaccinations.

“We cannot take off any sense of urgency to keep pressing towards that,” he said.

“And I want to encourage people, if you’re booked for AstraZeneca today, go and get it. The best dose you can get ... is the dose you can get today.”

The extra 4.5 million doses of Pfizer in September coming from the UK and Singapore will be distributed on a per capita basis.

That means NSW will get 1,381,344 doses above what it was expecting for the month, federal government figures show. Victoria will get an extra 1,130,905 doses while Queensland will get 875,653 jabs. The ACT will receive another 95,141.

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Katina Curtis is a political reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House in Canberra.Connect via Twitter or email.

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