A DIRE WARNING FOR SYDNEY’S UNVACCINATED WHEN LOCKDOWN ENDS: SOCIAL ISOLATION

Tue 28 September 2021:

Residents of Sydney who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 risk being prevented from participating in a variety of social events after their stay-at-home restrictions are lifted in December, according to New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejkilian.

Under a roadmap to exit lockdown in Australia’s biggest city, unvaccinated people are already subject to delays in freedoms that will be gradually granted to inoculated citizens between Oct. 11 and Dec. 1.

The two-tier system, which was supposed to encourage more individuals to get vaccinated, has been criticized for penalizing vulnerable groups who did not have access to vaccines and for failing to provide a real incentive for vaccine skeptics.

However, Berejkilian said people who choose not to be vaccinated could be barred entry to shops, restaurants and entertainment venues even after the state lifts all restrictions against them on Dec. 1.

“A lot of businesses have said they will not accept anyone who is unvaccinated,” Berejiklian told Seven News on Tuesday. “Life for the unvaccinated will be very difficult indefinitely.”

Pubs, cafes, gyms, and hairdressers in New South Wales, home to Sydney, will reopen to fully vaccinated persons on Oct. 11, and more restrictions will be eased until the state’s 80 percent adult population is fully vaccinated, which is expected by the end of October.

Despite ongoing infections, Australia is targeting a faster reopening through better vaccination rates, primarily in its two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

Until the arrival of the Delta variant in June, which caused a third wave of infections, Australia had managed the pandemic better than many other comparable countries.

Over 70% of the country’s total of nearly 100,000 cases had been caused by this highly infectious strain.

(Input with agency)

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