Slinging back Pina Coladas on a tropical beach or tucking into some questionable ethnic street food may seem like distant memories thanks to the land lock that’s been enforced on us this year due to a certain pandemic. However, Qantas has ~finally~ released some information about potential international travel, which looks to require a mandatory vaccine before departing our shores.

Alan Joyce, the CEO of Australia’s largest and oldest airline, Qantas spoke with A Current Affair on Monday night about requirements that the airline will be implementing.

“We are looking at changing our terms and conditions to say, for international travellers we will ask people to have a vaccination before they get on the aircraft,” he said. “Whether you need that domestically, we’ll have to see what happens with the COVID-19 market but certainly for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country we think that’s a necessity.”

While this is on the cards for Qantas, Joyce hinted that the COVID-19 mandatory vaccine is likely to be introduced as a prerequisite to fly on many different airlines.

“I’m talking to colleagues in other airlines around the world that will be a common theme across the world.”

The suggestion of the opportunity to travel again is, of course, an exciting one. However, the possible regulations –  from ankle monitors to DNA tests – are slightly terrifying. Oh yeah, big brother is also looking to have a digital record of what is injected into our body before permitting us to fly.

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“And what we are looking at is how you can have a vaccination passport, an electronic version of it, which certifies what the vaccine is, and is it acceptable to the country you are travelling to,” Joyce shared.

“There are a lot of logistics and technology that will be needed to be put in place to make this happen but the airlines and governments are working on this as we speak.”

Joyce mentioned that DNA tests – commonly known as PCR tests – are likely to be implemented. This could potentially cut down the amount of time – if not remove the requirement – of the expensive method of quarantining in Australia.

“If we don’t get bubbles, if we don’t get a vaccine, absolutely testing is the way to reduce the amount of time that’s needed in quarantine.” 

A date for international travel hasn’t been announced yet, and likely won’t be until the vaccine is officially rolled out.

Much like a house arrest dongle (read: basically identical to a house arrest dongle) Papua New Guinea has recently introduced a GPS tracking ankle bracelet that arrivals into the country must wear during their quarantine period. This helps with both contact tracing and making sure quarantine rules aren’t broken. Singapore has also adopted a similar tactic with a GPS tracking wrist band. Measures like this could be introduced by Australia when we open our borders, to continue the successful management of COVID-19.

Of course, many Aussies are absolutely frothing at the opportunity to travel the world again. But, the fact that a non-negotiable (brand new!) vaccine will need to come hand in hand with that is very scary to a lot of people. What do you think, would you be willing to take the mandatory vaccine?

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