CANBERRA, Nov 23: Australia will allow entry to vaccinated students and business
visa holders from December 1, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday.
Vaccinated tourists from South Korea and Japan will also be allowed from next
month. Like elsewhere, Australia also had barred international travel in view
of the covid pandemic since May last year.
The announcement will help thousands of Indian students. "From 1 December 2021,
fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can come to Australia without needing
to apply for a travel exemption. Eligible visa holders include skilled and student
cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and provisional family
visa holders," the Government said.
"The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone
in our pathway back," Morrison told reporters in Canberra. Australia will also
allow in vaccinated tourists from South Korea and Japan from December 1, he
said.
Early this month Australia had added Bharat Biotech's Covaxin to its list of
approved vaccines. Covishield was already accepted by the Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA), Australia's pharma regulator.
Many Australian universities rely on foreign students to sustain themselves
economically. Foreign students contribute about A$35 billion ($25 billion) a
year to the Australian economy. According to the Government, about 160,000 students,
among 235,000 foreigners, had visas for Australia at the end of October.
Because of travel curbs, labour shortage is also affecting the economy.
Except Victoria State and New South Wales, most places are covid-free now.
Victoria State logged 1,029 cases on Monday.
List of accepted vaccines
Currently accepted vaccines (Two doses at least 14 days apart) are: AstraZeneca
Vaxzevria; AstraZeneca Covishield; Pfizer/Biontech Comirnaty; Moderna Spikevax;
Sinovac Coronavac; Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV (for people aged 18-60) (read more about
acceptable variations of this vaccine at TGA website); Bharat Biotech Covaxin
Or one dose of: Johnson & Johnson/ Janssen-Cilag covid vaccine.
Seven days must have passed since the final dose of vaccine.
People travelling to Australia need to provide a negative covid PCR test result
taken within 3 days of flight’s scheduled departure.
