Date Time We need to start vaccinating people in their 20s and 30s, according to Doherty modelling Last week the federal government announced 70% of over-16s would need to be vaccinated for COVID-19 restrictions to be eased. Author Chair in Epidemiology, Deakin University And this week, Melbourne’s Doherty Institute published the modelling informing this. The Doherty Institute had been asked by national cabinet to model the effects of increasing vaccination rates on Australia’s pathway out of the COVID pandemic. The collaboration created an impressive assembly of models that allows them to assess the impacts of outbreaks under a range of infection-control scenarios. The model can be adapted to explore easing of specific restrictions, or changed conditions, for example if the dominant variant changes, or our response is more or less effective than anticipated.