Coronavirus - Australia
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From the Oz
NATASHA ROBINSON
RICHARD FERGUSON10:27PM APRIL 6
Health experts have called for the establishment of a wide network of mass immunisation centres in Australia to provide an immediate boost to the nation’s flagging COVID-19 vaccine program.
University of NSW epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws, who is an adviser to the World Health Organisation, said Australia would need to perform on average 132,000 vaccinations every day if the October time frame of the bulk of the population receiving at least one shot was to be met.
“We’re not doing very well so far,” Professor McLaws said. “At the current rate they’re not going to make that deadline at all. They will need to increase the daily vaccination rate sevenfold if everyone is to receive at least one dose by October.”
The federal government says it plans to set up mass vaccination centres as the vaccine rollout continues but Professor McLaws questioned whether the plans were of the scale required.
“Their definition of mass vaccination and mine are very different,” she said. “You need a lot of them. I’m thinking of what is done during Ebola, polio, all of the vaccination programs since time immemorial.
“If people can’t get to the stadiums, then open up the parks in each suburb, open up the schoolyards on weekends.”
Australia has so far vaccinated about one million people at the rate of about 3.3 vaccinations per hundred people. In contrast, by week six of their vaccination programs, Israel had immunised 54 per 100 people and the UK 7.4 per 100 people.
Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said on Tuesday that he could not understand the government’s reluctance to use mass vaccination hubs — with warehouses and stadiums being used in countries like Britain — and also demanded that pharmacists be used sooner.
“I don’t understand why the commonwealth is so resistant to an idea that’s been rolled out in pretty much every country I’ve looked at around the world,” Mr Butler told ABC radio.
“We should bring on pharmacists sooner. At the moment it doesn’t look like pharmacists will be brought into the strategy until June at the latest.
“I don’t think the numbers lie. And the numbers show how far behind we are … the strategy put together by the commonwealth is not working.”
University of Sydney vaccine expert Robert Booys also backed the establishment of mass vaccination centres. “Our vaccine rollout has been less than adequate so far,” he said.
“I think it will make a really big difference to have large sites with well-trained people with large supplies.”
However, Rod Pearce, the chair of the Immunisation Coalition, said the GP network had the capacity to deliver the majority of vaccinations. Last year, general practice surgeries delivered 17 million flu jabs.
“I think general practice has got a huge capacity to absorb vaccine-giving if the supply becomes reliable,” Dr Pearce said.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said he was not ruling out the use of US-style mass vaccination hubs to speed up the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Dr Kidd said the commonwealth was already in discussions with the states about the use of suitable sites.
Scott Morrison on Tuesday denied there was any “hold-up” in distributing COVID-19 vaccines, saying the government missed its target of four million jabs by April because it did not receive at least three million vaccine doses.
The Prime Minister said the country’s rollout was doing well relative to a number of other developed nations.
“At this stage in the rollout it’s actually better than where Germany was, it’s better than where New Zealand was, it’s better than where South Korea was and Japan was,” he said.
At least 854,983 Australians have now had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 270,943 jabs have been administered by GPS.
Some 112,830 people in disability support facilities have also been inoculated.
NATASHA ROBINSONHEALTH EDITOR
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@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
That said, I know two essential workers that have either had their jab or scheduled for one, so NZ is making progress on vaccinations
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@kirwan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
That said, I know two essential workers that have either had their jab or scheduled for one, so NZ is making progress on vaccinations
Good news!
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@kirwan My wife is in a residential hospital and has been told all staff and residents will get the jab this month. That part of the roll out is slow as many / most of the residents cannot give informed consent so they have to contact whoever has the Enduring Power of Attorney
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@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
The Prime Minister said the country’s rollout was doing well relative to a number of other developed nations.
“At this stage in the rollout it’s actually better than where Germany was, it’s better than where New Zealand was, it’s better than where South Korea was and Japan was,” he said.That sums up the government - not at any stage does it seek to be the best, just content with being able to say we're not the worst. Useless fluffybunnies.
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@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@kirwan My wife is in a residential hospital and has been told all staff and residents will get the jab this month. That part of the roll out is slow as many / most of the residents cannot give informed consent so they have to contact whoever has the Enduring Power of Attorney
Yes, they seem to be targetting the right people and at a good pace. Sooner we have herd immunity, the sooner we can end these lockdowns.
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@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
It's not much of a priority to the virus manufacturers either - protection of the vulnerable in countries with a lot of Covid has to outweigh healthy Australians and Kiwis desire for international travel.
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@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
It's not much of a priority to the virus manufacturers either - protection of the vulnerable in countries with a lot of Covid has to outweigh healthy Australians and Kiwis desire
for international travel. make a living from tourismLets not minimise a real issue.
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@kirwan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
It's not much of a priority to the virus manufacturers either - protection of the vulnerable in countries with a lot of Covid has to outweigh healthy Australians and Kiwis desire
for international travel. make a living from tourismLets not minimise a real issue.
One particular sector's woes down here are still going to be a lower priority than local death rates.
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@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@kirwan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
It's not much of a priority to the virus manufacturers either - protection of the vulnerable in countries with a lot of Covid has to outweigh healthy Australians and Kiwis desire
for international travel. make a living from tourismLets not minimise a real issue.
One particular sector's woes down here are still going to be a lower priority than local death rates.
Yes, of course. Just didn’t like how flippant you were being about it.
Not quite as bad as calling a sector “cocky”. But not far off.
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@kirwan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@kirwan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@canefan said in Coronavirus - Australia:
@voodoo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
I guess the other part of the issue here is that we are:
a. Down about 3m vaccines that never arrived from Europe, and
b. Seeing a bit of noise around the AZ jab come out.With both those things in play, you can sorta understand why they're not actively pushing people.to rush put and get vaccinated
Frustrating though.
And in Oz, as in NZ, the virus has a very low presence. So the motivation of the authorities to push the programme through is not so high
It's not much of a priority to the virus manufacturers either - protection of the vulnerable in countries with a lot of Covid has to outweigh healthy Australians and Kiwis desire
for international travel. make a living from tourismLets not minimise a real issue.
One particular sector's woes down here are still going to be a lower priority than local death rates.
Yes, of course. Just didn’t like how flippant you were being about it.
Not quite as bad as calling a sector “cocky”. But not far off.
NZ and Aussie get better business relationships and family occasions. These are important, and worth working towards and celebrating now that it's here.
I think the net impact of tourism will be limited because Kiwis will go there in big numbers which will offset Aussies coming here. Closed borders created losers, but that was mostly offset by winners (both local tourism and other spending). Open borders creates winners but I think that will mostly be offset, not a large net gain.
The desirability of TransTasman travel is far more about our relationships, not tourism.
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@godder said in Coronavirus - Australia:
The desirability of TransTasman travel is far more about our relationships, not tourism.
I'd say it's allowing required travel back first (families, business), and tourism second. But there are 5x as many of them as us - so I suspect we'll do just fine out of this. In fact, I think we'll do better from Aus, than Aus will from us!
We should check back in 6 months.
It's also a dry run to a future where Covid is eliminated in coutnries and we join with them. It could well bea progressive green-zone system. Now we just need to offer it to the islands like the Cooks (0 covid cases) and keep opening up carefully and progressively
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It's also about allowing some bloody choice back into our lives. Want to travel and see your family? Who the heck are we to stop you, just know the risks. Want to run a business in tourism? Go for it, we'll get out of your way and you can compete on a level playing field with the others.
The idea that anyone would suggest keeping the borders shut to protect certain industries does not sit well with me.
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Mrs Boo had her Astra Zeneca'ed on Thursday.
Was chatting to the Nurse who said they were getting through just over 100 per day.
Doing some back of cigarette packet calcs, and assuming their turnover is typical, and Hervey Bay is representative of the population across Straya ...
... and assuming their throughput is typical all of the vaccine clinics
There are 6 clinics in Hervey Bay. That extrapolates to 600/day.
So to vaccinate our entire population would take 100 days. Which is 20 weeks. Which is 5 months. So September for everyone to get one dose. Repeat for second dose so February for completion.
Many much assumptions, but the numbers don't yet add up for an October delivery.
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@nta said in Coronavirus - Australia:
Thinking about a holiday in July school break. Considering NZ, FNQ, or maybe just Nelson Bay a couple of hours north of Sydney.
Staying in-state removes the risks of Covid shit, pending vaccination status.
Come to NZ, I’m sure I got the last round and it’s your shout
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@booboo said in Coronavirus - Australia:
Mrs Boo had her Astra Zeneca'ed on Thursday.
Was chatting to the Nurse who said they were getting through just over 100 per day.
Doing some back of cigarette packet calcs, and assuming their turnover is typical, and Hervey Bay is representative of the population across Straya ...
... and assuming their throughput is typical all of the vaccine clinics
There are 6 clinics in Hervey Bay. That extrapolates to 600/day.
So to vaccinate our entire population would take 100 days. Which is 20 weeks. Which is 5 months. So September for everyone to get one dose. Repeat for second dose so February for completion.
Many much assumptions, but the numbers don't yet add up for an October delivery.
I personally don’t know why there’s so much attention of rushing the rollout given the tolerance level of any case is so low it’s ridiculous.
Internal border restrictions are instituted at the drop of a hat still.
And the whole crap about being left behind because other countries are opening seems stupid given the state of cases globally. Again look at what happens when there is one case of transmission. People like to throw out things like herd immunity, but that is not going to stop a McGowan or Anastasia, Dan or Marshall from shutting it down if there are still cases.