THE SQUIZ 

It was March 2020 when Western Australia sealed itself off from the rest of the country and the Federal Government stopped non-Aussie residents coming from overseas. They were moves that were made to stop the spread of the coronavirus. And 20 months later, it was confirmed that those hard borders will come tumbling down. Health Minister Roger Cook urged unvaxxed locals to use the time between now and open day to get jabbed. “Make no mistake about it, COVID is coming into our state,” he said.

SO WHAT’S THE WEST UP TO? 

Premier Mark McGowan said the state will open its border to the rest of Australia and international visitors on 5 February. That’s when Western Oz is expected to hit a rate of 90%. The rules: arrivals will be required to be fully vaccinated, return a negative COVID test 72 hours prior to departure and undertake a test 48 hours after their arrival. If staying longer than 5 days, a test on day 6 is also required. Since the pandemic kicked off, Western Oz has recorded one death from community transmission, and just 115 local cases. And on the international border front, from tomorrow it’ll be open to those who are fully vaxxed with an eligible visa including international students, skilled migrants, refugees, working holiday makers and family members coming to stay temporarily. The border was meant to open to them on 1 December, but Omicron… From tomorrow, Japanese and South Korean tourists will be able to holiday here, joining the on-off travel bubbles in place with Singapore and New Zealand. 

MODERNA TO BE MADE IN AUSTRALIA

Pharmaceutical giant Moderna will produce 25 million doses of mRNA respiratory vaccines from 2024 in a 2-billion dollar deal struck with the Federal and Victorian governments to build a local manufacturing facility in the state. The facility will make shots for illnesses like the common flu and could be making the Covid vaccine by the middle of the decade. This is a big deal for Victoria and the country more broadly because there are currently no mRNA manufacturing facilities here, so these vaccines have to be imported. The details of this deal remain confidential, but what we do know is that it includes priority access for Australians so we’re not competing with other countries should there be future pandemics. “This investment will continue to secure Australia’s future economic prosperity,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.