With every passing week, a larger percentage of Hawaii’s population is vaccinated against the coronavirus. But in some parts of the world, the pace of vaccination is much slower—and that includes a country that usually sends a fair number of tourists to the islands.
Australia has been a relative success story in containing the coronavirus, but the country has been slow in rolling out vaccinations.
The Reuters’ Coronavirus Tracker Project uses government figures to estimate that a little more than 6% of Australia’s population has been fully vaccinated.
And a new survey out this week shows vaccine hesitancy among many residents.
The Sydney Morning Herald and a group called Resolve Strategic did an online survey of more than 1,600 Australians who have not yet been vaccinated.
Nearly a third said they were “not very likely” or “not likely at all” to get a shot.
Concerns include side effects, but the Sydney Morning Herald reports a large factor is a lack of urgency—because the country is basically closed to visitors.
Earlier this week, the CEO of Virgin Australia said the country can’t keep its borders closed indefinitely.
Jayne Hrdlicka said, “We must learn to live with COVID-19 in the community in a way that protects the health and safety of our people but also opens Australia up to the rest of the world.”
Last week, the federal government presented a budget which assumes that Australia’s international border will remain closed until at least the middle of 2022.
