Australia Covid live update: Victoria eases lockdown after 10 new cases; NSW records 172 local coronavirus cases

Until a significant majority have had two shots of vaccine, this is with us and to a certain extent – and I’ve tried to be very frank about this when others have not necessarily wanted to go into this space – but I’ve tried to be frank. If we get 75% of people through the vaccination program that will mean across Australia the population of Victoria, Israel, Singapore and Ireland would not have had the jab. Therefore, you’ve got to be careful that they don’t get sick and they overrun your hospital system.

I wish we were doing this press conference in a warehouse that was full of tens of millions of doses of Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, whatever, right? I wish that was the case. That is not the case. So, yes, some of these restrictions are going to be with us and the risk of further lockdowns will be with us until we get the vast majority of Victorians and Australians through the vaccination program.