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3.58am BST

Victorian press conference

Health minister Martin Foley, Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar and deputy chief health officer prof Ben Cowie have finished speaking in Melbourne.

A bit of mopping up: Foley was told by a reporter that “Victorians are hungry for dates” and I must admit my first thought went to the dates in my pantry. But what the reporter meant was that the state had not given clear details about what could change when the state hit a 70% first dose vaccination rate.

The more we get vaccinated the sooner we get there, when we set that benchmark, it looks like the 23 September, there is every prospect we will get there earlier. And that’s a great reflection on the fact that Victorians want to get vaccinated.

What is holding us back sometimes is a lack of vaccine and disproportionate underrepresentation of primary healthcare and GPs and pharmacies being the locations to get vaccinated. The more vaccines we get, the more locations we have that people can get vaccinated, the sooner we will get to 70% single dose, the sooner we will get to 70% double dose.

Victorians aren’t that hesitant, increasingly, they are wanting to look for vaccines … there might be an element of incentivising people to come forward and do things, but, equally, the measures that have been announced, regarding freeing up international travel, the measures announced about … you can re-engage in commercial life, and social life, and cultural life, all of these things form part of the real incentive, to get out there and get vaccinated.

More fundamentally, the motivation of looking after yourself and your family and protecting those you love, given the increasing levels of infection in the community, that’s the most important incentive, to go out there and get vaccinated.

There are certainly features in common. Generally, a younger population, so, people who have not been previously eligible for vaccination. Under the sort of national rollout, which understandably and necessarily prioritised older people. Also a significant proportion of people who are essential workers, so as a consequence, are moving around. And participating in the economy. That puts them at greater risk of exposure so Covid-19 compared to someone who is able to work from home.

There are also, as has been referred to previously, in some circumstances, particularly amongst cases we’re seeing, larger household sizes. So, if there’s one person who … gets Covid, that consequently exposes a larger number. There’s crucial, social [reasons], in terms of housing size, that relates to a lot of that.

3.52am BST

The ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, has rejected the use of vaccine passports or facilitating a requirement to be vaccinated to enter venues via use of QR codes on the Check-In CBR app.

Barr told reporters in Canberra that at national cabinet meetings he had expressed a range of objections: technical, on policy grounds, and philosophical.

We don’t need the QR code and vaccine passport to drive up vaccination rates. It’s not an issue in the ACT. I understand it might be in other jurisdictions and they might pursue it.

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Source: The Guardian