Australia will reopen its borders when 80 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed on Friday.
The announcement sketches a long road out of 'Fortress Australia' as only 14 per cent of the population are fully jabbed - meaning 66 per cent still need two vaccines before virus restrictions can end.
It is one of a series of targets unveiled by Morrison intended to end the pandemic in Australia a year-and-a-half after the country cocooned itself from the rest of the pandemic-ravaged world.
In March 2020, Australia took the unprecedented step of almost entirely closing its borders to foreign visitors and banning its globetrotting citizens from leaving.
Sixteen months and several lockdowns on, there are currently around six million Australians under stay-at-home orders - most residing in Covid-hit Sydney - as authorities battle to get back to 'Covid zero.'
And scarcely 14 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, compared to 56 per cent in the UK, prompting growing anger.
Australia will reopen its borders when 80 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday, despite on 14 per cent having had two jabs already
Morrison's announcement sketches a long road out of 'Fortress Australia' as only 14 per cent of the population are fully jabbed - meaning 66 per cent still need two vaccines before virus restrictions can end
Hoping to give restriction-weary Australians some prospect of a return to normality, Morrison set out a series of targets for the gradual easing of restrictions.
The conservative prime minister indicated that when 70 percent of eligible adults have received two doses, vaccinated residents will have more freedom from domestic restrictions and a limited number of international students and economic visa holders will be allowed to enter the country.
'I believe we can get there by the end of the year,' Morrison said, without setting a firm target date.
When 80 percent of eligible adults have been fully jabbed, vaccinated Australians will again be allowed to
