Q+A: Aug 5

Q+A is back in Sydney this week with Stan Grant hosting another discussion around COVID, vaccine passports and herd immunity.

This week Q+A looks beyond our locked borders to the rest of the world where life and economies are starting to open back up.

Britain is now living with COVID, and following a staged reopening, life is returning to normal. The virus has not been eliminated there, but high vaccination rates mean smaller numbers of deaths, and far fewer hospitalisations.

In the US, cities and states have sprung back to life, but the Delta variant is on the rise, and vaccination rates have slowed. Then on our doorstep, Indonesia is grappling with a deadly Delta surge and now has some of the highest daily COVID case and death numbers in the world.

What can we learn from these and other countries about a pathway out of COVID?

When will we reach herd immunity and see an end to lockdowns? Will vaccine passports and mandates become the norm?

And how do we shake our current obsession with daily case numbers and adopt a new mindset?

Joining Stan on the panel:

Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand
Dr Eric Feigl-Ding, Epidemiologist and health economist
Yulia Supadmo, Chief editor, Rajawali Televisi
Damien Cave, Australian bureau chief, The New York Times
Julie Leask, Vaccine specialist, Sydney University
Kate Mills, CEO Property Industry Foundation

Thursday, August 5 at 8.30pm on ABC.