COVID-19: Australia hits 80% vaccination feat; to become world's most jabbed nation

Australia is on the track to mark an international milestone as it hit an inoculation rate of 80% for eligible adults against COVID-19. The achievement was dubbed as "magnificent" by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who took to Twitter to announce the "national effort."

As per the Australian health bulletin, the country has rolled out nearly 3.60 crore doses, including double shots for 1.72 crores of the population. "We did it! We have hit the target of 80% of all Australians aged 16+ fully vaccinated, as set out in the National Plan," PM Morrison wrote on Facebook as he announced the news. He also expressed heartfelt gratitude to the people of Australia to comply with their efforts of the nation to reach the national goal even though the country did not begin inoculating its population until February.

"A huge thank you to everyone. This has been a massive Australian national effort, and the work doesn’t stop here. We are on track to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world," PM Morrison wrote on Facebook.

PM Morrison also urged citizens to get their due jabs. "Please go and get vaccinated if you haven’t already done so. It’s going to help us to continue to safely reopen and stay safely open," he wrote.

It is to be noted that Australia had introduced mandatory measures in states and territories for occupations and workers to get jabbed. Currently, the unvaccinated population is barred from attending public events like concerts and dining at restaurants. The country fared pretty well during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the population of 25 million was grimly affected during the second phase of the Delta variant, which became too infectious to suppress.

Australia eases COVID-related int'l border restrictions

Several major states of Australia had remained under hard lockdown for nearly nine months following which, the government eased international COVID-related border restrictions for the first time last Monday. However, the relaxed ruled were applied to fully vaccinated citizens from highly inoculated states. Meanwhile, the nationwide vaccination figures have been somewhat uneven with 90% fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in New South Wales (NSW) and just 65% in Northern Territory and Western Australia. The areas are currently under snap lockdown after COVID-19 cases grew to three cases.

On the other hand, Canberra is all set to become the most vaccinated city in the world, with 95% complete inoculations. The Canberrans raced to get the jabs quickly after vaccines arrived late in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The authorities now expect that by November the entirety of the ACT's population will be vaccinated, ACT's CM, Andrew Barr had said earlier in October.

Image: AP