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Australia's borders 'could be closed until next year'

Government
Will Payne
27 July 2021

Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull believes the country’s borders will not reopen before the first quarter of 2022, owing to a lack of vaccines.

From 17 April, fully vaccinated visitors will no longer need to show a negative pre-departure test result

Speaking to the BBC, Turnbull said the country won’t have enough doses of Covid-19 vaccines until October and November to get a "large enough" percentage of the population protected. 

"The very reason we are locked down, which is so frustrating when so many other parts of the world are opening up, is simply because our government failed to buy enough vaccines," he added.

"It was a colossal failure. The problem is, you can’t wind the clock back."