The snap, seven-day lockdown of Victoria from Friday in the wake of the latest outbreak of COVID-19, stemming from a quarantine failure in South Australia, won't be easy.

For months now there has been a sense that the worst of the pandemic might be over, but Australia's dismal roll-out of its vaccination program and the frightening scene playing out in India and many other countries tell the true story.

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COVID-19 is with us for a long time to come and, many experts have made clear, the day will arrive when we have to let the virus circulate in the community.

But with vaccination rates still at very low levels a return to far more open times cannot happen just yet.

Even the numbers of over-50s getting the AstraZeneca doses have to be seen within the context of many more weeks of waiting to get the second immunisation that brings about the vaccine's far higher degree of protection.

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Those second doses won't begin kicking in until early August, so the reality is far worse than a cursory look at the figures would suggest.

That very fact prompted the University of Sydney's Professor Robert Booy to urge a smaller gap between the first and second doses - from 12 weeks down to eight.

His thinking is that this obviously gets more people fully vaccinated at an earlier point while still providing them with above 90 per cent protection.

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But in the meantime, the reality now is our community is once again going through yet another challenging COVID-19 experience, as people south of the border remain at home, businesses try to work within the restrictions and officials try to work out how sporting events can proceed.

We will get through, but what we cannot have confidence in getting through is the message to Prime Minister Scott Morrison that now's also time to stop dithering on getting effective, cabin-style quarantine up-and-running and to get us all vaccinated.

So far, his government's efforts have more closely resembled an episode of Fawlty Towers, without the laughs.