The ‘Bondi, Byron, Bali’ triangle has the same attraction to ‘spiritual urbanites’ as the Bermuda triangle has to light aircraft.
This community was dealt a Chakra-stinging blow earlier this week, however, when news broke that Indonesia would be adopting a ‘no vax, no fly’ policy.
Coconuts Bali reports this is sending foreign nationals in Bali “into a frenzy.”
“From anti-vaxxers condemning the move, to travellers who prefer to get the COVID jab in their home countries, to those frustrated with not being able to get vaccinated even if they wanted to,” the move has allegedly ruffled a lot of feathers, Coconuts Bali claims.
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Here in Australia, our Beige linen wearing brethren now face a dilemma (beyond that of doing the right thing by the rest of the country) – abandon the anti-vax rhetoric (which, unfortunately, quite a few in these communities seem to subscribe to) or have their wings clipped.
With international travel tipped to resume in 2022, those looking to resume their annual pilgrimage to Mrs Sippy Seminyak will have to either get vaccinated or potentially be denied entry to Indonesia.
At the time of writing, only 8.2% of Australians have been fully vaccinated, according to The Guardian. This rules out 91.8% of Australians from entering Indonesia (and by extension, Bali) right now.
Australians can’t leave Australia right now anyway due to our own government’s travel ban. The big question Indonesia’s new policy raises is how many of us will be fully vaccinated next year (or whenever international travel resumes) and whether this ‘no vax no fly’ policy for foreign nationals is going to remain in place permanently.
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“The COVID-19 Task Force issued the new requirements yesterday,” Coconuts Bali reported on Monday, “which mandates that foreign nationals entering Indonesia must test negative for the coronavirus and to show a card or certificate that indicates they have received their full dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.”
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“Foreigners who are already in Indonesia and are wishing to travel within the country are subject to domestic travel rules for Indonesian nationals, with one notable rule being that they are allowed to travel after having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 jab as well as a negative test result,” Coconuts Bali added.
“The vaccine certificate requirement does not apply to foreign nationals with diplomatic visas, visiting on an official state capacity, or entering Indonesia under the Travel Corridor Arrangement scheme. Indonesians traveling from abroad can get their vaccines once they arrive in the country.”
News.com.au reports that, “While some anti-vaxxers have slammed the rule, other travellers currently living in Indonesia say they would prefer to get the covid jab in their own home countries.”
Other travellers living in Indonesia, news.com.au also reports, “Say that like in Australia – getting access to the jab is proving near impossible.”
According to Coconuts Bali, the new rule has impacted people’s travel decisions.
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“One Facebook user said they recently arrived in Jakarta from the Netherlands and intended to travel to Bali, but are now unable to do so because they ‘do not want to be vaccinated,'” Coconuts Bali reported.
“Another user, who says he’s seeking to leave Indonesia as soon as possible, wrote last night: ‘I’m not interested in taking the vaccines that are available here in Indonesia for personal reasons and just trying to get my family back home.'”
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Other social media posts DMARGE has seen on Twitter show people speculating that Australia too, might introduce a no vax, no-fly policy when we eventually allow international travel again. This is pure speculation at this point, however.