{"id":971536,"date":"2021-11-05T09:58:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T13:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=971536"},"modified":"2021-11-05T09:58:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T13:58:47","slug":"locked-down-western-australia-sets-vax-rate-target-at-90-per-cent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/locked-down-western-australia-sets-vax-rate-target-at-90-per-cent\/","title":{"rendered":"Locked Down Western Australia Sets Vax Rate Target at 90 Per Cent"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flocked-down-western-australia-sets-vax-rate-target-at-90-per-cent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=971536&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1325678089-e1636110242829-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">CANBERRA, Australia (AP) \u2013 While people are now able to travel freely in Australia\u2019s more populated east, COVID-19-free Western Australia will maintain its tight restrictions into next year, state leaders said Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Western Australia is the largest state, covering a third of Australia\u2019s land area. It also has the nation\u2019s lowest vaccination rates, in part because the state has had few infections and life has been relatively normal throughout the pandemic.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Western Australia is the only Australian state or territory that does not intend to reopen this year. Vaccinated Australians have been free to travel the world through east coast airports in coronavirus-affected Sydney and Melbourne since Monday when a 20-month-old international travel ban was lifted.<\/p>\n<p>Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan on Friday set a vaccination target of 90 per cent of the population aged 12 and older for the border restrictions to be relaxed. The milestone was forecast to be reached in late January or early February.<\/p>\n<p>McGowan said he would set a date for the state to reopen once 80 per cent of the target population had been vaccinated, which is expected to happen in mid-December.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Once that reopening date was set, it would stand even if the vaccination rate fell short of 90 per cent by then.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs far as world standards go, a rate of 90 per cent will be an amazing achievement,\u201d McGowan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven our current vaccination rates, these targets are realistic and within our sights,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Only 63.7 per cent of the target population in Western Australia was fully vaccinated, according to state data. Nationally, 79.6 per cent of the population aged 16 and older were fully vaccinated, according to federal government data released on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Other states have or intend to substantially relax pandemic restrictions once 80 per cent of their populations aged 16 and older are vaccinated.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Western Australia\u2019s sparsely populated north has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"10.609756097561\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Local govt officials in Australia had dogs at a council pound shot dead &#8220;to protect [their] employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations, from the risk of COVID-19 transmission&#8221; from rescuers who had been due to collect them <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ooCFGA7Qfw\">https:\/\/t.co\/ooCFGA7Qfw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1429764101815758849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>McGowan said parts of the state could be isolated by intrastate borders if their vaccination rates continued to lag. Such areas include the Pilbara region where the nation\u2019s lucrative iron ore mining operations are based.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCutting off the Pilbara, or any region for that matter, is not something I want to do,\u201d McGowan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if that\u2019s what is required to protect the local community and local industries, then we will take that step based on the health advice at the time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Government modelling showed that reopening that state at the 90 per cent vaccination benchmark rather than 80 per cent would mean COVID-19 cases occupying 70 per cent fewer hospital beds, 75 per cent few intensive care beds and 63 per cent fewer deaths, McGowan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe difference in easing border controls at 90 per cent rather than 80 per cent is 200 West Australian lives are saved,\u201d McGowan said.<\/p>\n<p>If the state falls short of the 250,000 additional people it needs to get vaccinated to reach the 90 per cent target, additional pandemic measures will be required on the date it reopens, McGowan said.<\/p>\n<p>Western Australia has accounted for only nine of Australia\u2019s 1,781 COVID-19 deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Four of those deaths were passengers and crew from the German-operated cruise ship MV Artania who were brought ashore for hospital treatment in the capital Perth. The state\u2019s last COVID-19 death was reported in April 2020.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"6.6792452830189\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Delingpole: Rubber Bullets for Public Health \u2014 Australia Goes Full Fascist <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uR0nPFQVol\">https:\/\/t.co\/uR0nPFQVol<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1440736400865959937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 22, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h5 class=\"western\"><em><span>Follow Breitbart London on Facebook:<\/span><\/em><em>&nbsp;<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BreitbartLondon\/\"><span>Breitbart London<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CANBERRA, Australia (AP) \u2013 While people are now able to travel freely in Australia\u2019s more populated east, COVID-19-free Western Australia will maintain its tight restrictions into next year, state leaders &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-971536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=971536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}