Beoz

Germany's was a shit show too. Many countries have been very disappointed in their roll out. The UK is about to take a big pause while Pfizer and Moderna feed it elsewhere. Israel has all but stopped at 60%. Its a global problem, not just a local one. We have plenty of AZ they should make use of.

Amazulu

It has but we're not the only country that's cocked it up - look at Japan for instance
We need to ramp up drastically (which I reckon is now just starting to happen). When I went to the airport hub in Saturday, it was busy but should have been busier - much busier

paulry

Pull yourselves together! You're beginning to sound like a bunch of whinging poms.

Australia is far from perfect but virtually every country has cocked up along the way, because they are making it up (identifying problems, finding solutions, etc) as they go. But if based on it's track record, if there is any country I would want to be in during a pandemic it would have to be this one.

Beoz

10% fully jabbed by the end of today. It was 3.5% fully jabbed a week and a half ago. When all the AZ people start getting their second in the next month or so the fully jabbed count will ramp up very quickly. 30 odd percent on first dose in Australia at the moment. Don't read the Guardian figures. They knock about 2-3% off.

There is a silver lining to lockdowns.

Amazulu

Damn straight

We've done well in the big scheme of things

Amazulu

Sure. You can tell things are ramping up as Pfizer becomes more readily available. From August the amount coming into Australia is increasing drastically

Beoz

It sounds like the countries who have been getting good supply are getting turned off for the time being while the others get their share.

abner

That's an impressive prediction. I don't see us as anywhere near "fully vaccinated", on present progress, nor likely even close on the more flexible "herd immunity" standard.

And yet even once something like that 'fully vaccinated' state happens, you predict even more deaths from the disease?

Over what timeframe?

abner

I hear ya.

And I don't wholeheartedly disagree:
- I think ScoMo's government got the economic response right, opening the monetary taps (against their normal fiscal instincts) to keep the economy ticking over, when the first phase of public-health-driven lockdowns hit.
- I think the states have mostly got their lockdown calculations right, in terms of judging that the voting public has generally preferred 'safety' over 'keeping things open', as the painfully necessary bias when outbreaks occur.

BUT:-

• the failure of the vaccine acquisition strategy was a predictable own-goal, being too-heavily based from the beginning on made/manufactured-in-Australia solutions (e.g. the UQ one which flamed out in trials, because it generated too many spurious HIV+ results, and the AZ one, whose risks became known after wider distribution.)
  • The Feds didn't react quickly enough to secure further supplies of the major MRna vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), even once it was clear that these were the best "first-world" solutions.
• the failure to prioritise--as part of an actual plan, instead of some fond wish--vaccinations for aged-care workers *and* residents, led to untold premature deaths
• the failure to prioritise vaccination of the teaching profession, who often trend older, and who work in the face of students who are completely unreliable in terms of masking, and other social-distancing measures, put at unnecessary risk a profession that is not normally expected to take a 'front-line role' from any public-health perspective.

AND OVERWHELMINGLY

• the failure to acknowledge and deal with the *abysmal* and *repeated* failings of the hotel quarantine model to sustain actual quarantine, and the seeming inability, at both federal and state levels, to develop any longterm solution to deal with such problems, is definitely a function of federal/state pass-the-parcel politics.

Beoz

What type of tough guy would say this in hindsight? This is the most ridiculous thing you have ever said. It made perfect sense to 1. develop you own 2. Procure the IP to make your own. Both of those options are the perfect solution. Sadly one failed. Do you honestly think Australia, a little tiny outpost, with very few deaths, had the conviction to persuade Pfizer that Australia was more important than the massive markets of Europe and the US. Even on an ethical level, prioritizing Australia over the US and Europe given their death rate is just wrong. Give us a break and develop some common sense.

When were there untold deaths in Australia during the availability of a vaccine?

Give us a break. Why are teachers more important than those working the checkouts or bus drivers? In fact the ability to track and trace is far easier in schools?



The states agreed to support this. The states need to be responsible. They have all messed up. Don't be so harsh. No one has ever done this before. Learn as you go.

cresta57

That would be a roaring success up here in Redneck Wonderland

ozzieeagle

No idea what time frame, however the fact that Australia and NZ were so isolated from the rest of the world during this pandemic and once the borders invariably open, then the death rate from Covid will definitely rise here. It will almost certainly exceed that 910 mark, even with 35 deaths per vaccinated million, especially when the vaccines play catch up with the mutations that are bound to come.

Here's a "Fact checked" article on this very topic.

It's probably the best outcome any country could have made. However for Antipodeons the worst as far as death rate is possibly about to come.

As for fully vaccinated, there is no way 100pct will ever be achieved. I'd imagine somewhere between 85 to 90 pct would be as good as it could get.

Vaccinated people sometimes die of Covid-19—but very rarely - Full Fact

BTW isn't the predicted mortality rate of 0.035 pct in the double vaccinated 35 per 100,000 rather than 35 per 1,000,000 ?

Beoz

For sure, however I would like to see the strategy take something rather than give something. Take dole payment maybe.

cresta57

Hell no, every scallwag needing a fix will be smashing car windows for loose change. Give 'em free pot they'll be way to chilled to go out on the rob.

Beoz

Ha. I guess where you live that would make sense. Pot for dole takers for vaccine. Works for me.