Australians to Receive Vaccination Certificates in Mass Inoculation Program

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Australians will receive a certificate as proof of receiving a coronavirus vaccine when a mass&nbsp;inoculation&nbsp;program starts later this month. Foreign&nbsp;travelers&nbsp;are also likely to need similar confirmation of a COVID-19&nbsp;shot&nbsp;when Australia&rsquo;s international borders finally reopen.&nbsp;&nbsp; Australia has spent millions of dollars on public health campaigns urging the community to have a COVID-19&nbsp;inoculation.&nbsp;&nbsp;There is hesitation in some quarters because of the speed with which treatments have been developed, but authorities expect&nbsp;the vast majority of&nbsp;Australians to be vaccinated.&nbsp; The elderly and other priority groups will start to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech&nbsp;vaccine later this month, while the AstraZeneca drug is expected to be approved by Australian regulators within weeks.&nbsp; Recipients will&nbsp;be given&nbsp;proof that they have received the treatment.&nbsp; Vaccine certificates are expected to allow Australians easier access to nursing homes and hospitals, which have strict disease controls because of the vulnerability of residents and patients. The so-called virus passports could also give&nbsp;Australians&nbsp;permission to cross state internal borders&nbsp;in the event of&nbsp;future lockdowns.&nbsp;&nbsp;Many were closed during the pandemic&nbsp;to&nbsp;curb the spread of the coronavirus, but families were&nbsp;separated&nbsp;and businesses disrupted.&nbsp;The documents could also&nbsp;assist&nbsp;with international travel.&nbsp; The government hopes to offer all Australians a vaccination by the end of October. Government&nbsp;Services&nbsp;Minister Stuart Robert says the documentation will be easily accessible.&nbsp; &ldquo;The key thing for Australians to know is they will have a record.&nbsp;&nbsp;They will have a digital and paper certificate.&nbsp;&nbsp;For some&nbsp;89&nbsp;percent of Australians who have a smartphone, they will be able to access that digital certificate in their smartphone, download it onto their phone as a permanent record.&nbsp;They will be able to print it out.&nbsp;Every Australian will have a record of their vaccination should they need it,&quot; Robert said. Opposition politicians are wary of the government&rsquo;s competence to deliver the passports properly. They insist it has a poor&nbsp;track record&nbsp;of delivering COVID-19 support services online.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Foreign&nbsp;travelers&nbsp;are also likely to need similar confirmation of a coronavirus injection when Australia&rsquo;s international borders finally reopen. They were closed&nbsp;last&nbsp;March.&nbsp; Australian citizens and permanent residents&nbsp;are allowed to&nbsp;return home, but face between 14 and&nbsp;24 days&nbsp;in mandatory hotel quarantine at their own expense when they return.&nbsp; Australia has recorded 28,850 coronavirus infections, and&nbsp;909 people have died, according to the health department.&nbsp;&nbsp;It estimates there are 52 active cases across the country.&nbsp;&nbsp; The nation&rsquo;s virus strategy has relied on mass testing, sophisticated contact tracing, strict&nbsp;lockdowns&nbsp;and restrictions on international travel.&nbsp;