The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[jonboixxx]

If they can't travel then that's about right.

And some 40% of Australians don't have a passport; the travel carrot unfortunately won't necessarily resonate with a majority of that cohort.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Thats not new news for many hospitals though. Business as normal (unfortunately). Whether or not that should be the case is another debate and very off topic.

It’s actually not business as normal. It’s gone far beyond that.
The article posted by @drron from the mja details it well.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Agree but the Government refuses to come out and announce the primary reason for younger people to bother. Currently it's all about protecting the vulnerable. Once that has been finished then their reasoning is to simply ask, why bother doing us? If they can't travel then that's about right.

But no one is protected until there is herd immunity and that’s the message that needs to come across. This stuff about once we have 1a and b done all is great has been plain silly. For a start lots of people in 2A and lower are vulnerable - you just don’t know. And why is a 70 year old vulnerable, but a 69 year old isn’t? Lots of young people and children dying in India.

messaging hasn’t been great. They just have to say vaccines only work where there is herd immunity and we need everyone vaccinated and no one is going anywhere until we have say 75% vaccinated. Then they have to a real plan for when they will open up - this is the hard bit, as with low numbers vaccinated overseas who knows at what point it is safe. However if they say once you are vaccinated you can leave and come back at will, with home quarantine then that should be a good carrot.

Anyway the whole thing is a shambles - however after tomorrow our whole family of 7 will be vaccinated, so we have done our bit for helping to move us forward

 

[Pushka]

And some 40% of Australians don't have a passport; the travel carrot unfortunately won't necessarily resonate with a majority of that cohort.

And 60% do so its better than what is currently being mouthed. And possibly some kind of agreement for safe interstate travel without all these lockdowns.

Post automatically merged: Apr 28, 2021

But no one is protected until there is herd immunity and that’s the message that needs to come across. This stuff about once we have 1a and b done all is great has been plain silly. For a start lots of people in 2A and lower are vulnerable - you just don’t know. And why is a 70 year old vulnerable, but a 69 year old isn’t? Lots of young people and children dying in India.

messaging hasn’t been great. They just have to say vaccines only work where there is herd immunity and we need everyone vaccinated and no one is going anywhere until we have say 75% vaccinated. Then they have to a real plan for when they will open up - this is the hard bit, as with low numbers vaccinated overseas who knows at what point it is safe. However if they say once you are vaccinated you can leave and come back at will, with home quarantine then that should be a good carrot.

Anyway the whole thing is a shambles - however after tomorrow our whole family of 7 will be vaccinated, so we have done our bit for helping to move us forward

That isn't enough for younger people. Vulnerable ones yes. Healthy ones? They have no skin in the game.

 

[drron]

A recent yougov survey of 21 countries showed Australia isn't that bad with the numbers that will vaccinate.

People in Thailand and the UK are the most likely to say they will take the COVID-19 vaccine. Polish and French people are least likely

If and when a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine becomes available, will you get vaccinated? %

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[Pushka]

A recent yougov survey of 21 countries showed Australia isn't that bad with the numbers that will vaccinate.

People in Thailand and the UK are the most likely to say they will take the COVID-19 vaccine. Polish and French people are least likely

If and when a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine becomes available, will you get vaccinated? %

datawrapper.dwcdn.net

That needs to be broken down into age groups though. If the majority of the No's are aged under 45 then that's the issue, isn't it.

Possibly the one positive to come out of the Olympians being advanced in the queue may be the message it is sending to the youth. Perhaps that may be the message of the Games after all.

 

[mviy]

A recent yougov survey of 21 countries showed Australia isn't that bad with the numbers that will vaccinate.

Considering how little COVID there has been in Australia, it's a bit surprising that those survey results show many more in favour of getting vaccinated than some countries that have been hit very hard.

 

[DC3]

And some 40% of Australians don't have a passport; the travel carrot unfortunately won't necessarily resonate with a majority of that cohort.

So, 40% don’t have a passport? Overseas for them must be Taswegia.

It reminds me of someone who I once worked with, aged in his 50s, who had never left the state. It was a big deal for him when he flew Jetstar to WA. He could never understand why anyone would travel overseas, because we had it all right here in Oz, apparently.

Anyway, the WA trip must have triggered something. He then did a trip to South Africa, and then another to Thailand, then Germany was planned. Dipped his toe in the water, and then it all made sense.

If our leaders have a plan for reopening overseas travel, then we should be told what the plan involves.

 

[mviy]

That needs to be broken down into age groups though. If the majority of the No's are aged under 45 then that's the issue, isn't it.

In that case there could need to be some further incentives provided to people to get vaccinated later in the rollout. Other countries have faced problems with this as they get further into their rollouts.

So, 40% don’t have a passport? Overseas for them must be Taswegia.

Some people I know are terrified of getting on a plane to go anywhere even staying in Australia.

If our leaders have a plan for reopening overseas travel, then we should be told what the plan involves.

Home quarantine has been flagged by the Federal government as possibly starting late this year, though some states seem unlikely to be very willing to go along with that idea. Depending how things evolve with the vaccine rollout we may/may not hear a plan before the election.

One view is that the leaders will want us to have safely reopened to some degree before the election with hopes to get rewarded for that at the polls. A contrary view is that they will be so terrified of a backlash if something were to go wrong with that, that they will wait till after the election for whoever wins to start to open up.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

6500 doses in Vic yesterday. Highest daily total since 2nd April.

 

[Pushka]

In that case there could need to be some further incentives provided to people to get vaccinated later in the rollout. Other countries have faced problems with this as they get further into their rollouts.

Yup. I've been banging on about this for weeks now. I know that in the UK son and his friends are waiting to get the vaccination (30-40 age group) because they have been in lockdown since last October and know of many deaths etc in older folk. In Australia? Lockdowns yes. But while we continue to lockdown like we did last week, and lock out, with minimal infection, then it seems like we will never reach any kind of normal even with vaccination. What on earth is the plan?

 

[DC3]

.. Some people I know are terrified of getting on a plane to go anywhere even staying in Australia ..

Even the Spirit of Tasmania, with road/rail connections would be too much for some for an “overseas” trip.

 

[DC3]

... What on earth is the plan?

Paging you-know-who.

 

[jonboixxx]

A contrary view is that they will be so terrified of a backlash if something were to go wrong with that, that they will wait till after the election for whoever wins to start to open up.

After the castigation they received on vaccination rollout numbers, I should imagine they will tread very carefully into the next election, with limited real disclosure of any plan.
The Tokyo Olympics scenario, with its intense public scrutiny could be a real positive, to sell a story in a limited sense of "have vaccine, can travel and return safely". There's always a chance though, that it could go horribly wrong.

 

[jakeseven7]

It’s actually not business as normal. It’s gone far beyond that.
The article posted by @drron from the mja details it well.

Agree but unfortunately for many hospitals its not new news.

 

[drron]

when working in Maitland we employed a young woman as a secretary.She had never been further than Newcastle 30Km away

 

[oznflfan]

My Dad was the same, never left the country until 70, and only went interstate twice in his life for work training course when younger. Got his first passport a few years ago, now been to US, Asia, cruise, and planned Europe trip until COVID ruined that.

 

[DC3]

when working in Maitland we employed a young woman as a secretary.She had never been further than Newcastle 30Km away

And she probably could not see any reason to ever leave/travel? No AFF potential.

Post automatically merged: Apr 28, 2021

My Dad was the same, never left the country until 70, and only went interstate twice in his life for work training course when younger. Got his first passport a few years ago, now been to US, Asia, cruise, and planned Europe trip until COVID ruined that.

The penny finally dropped?

 

[OZDUCK]

My father was never inclined to travel overseas after some trips he made when he was in his late 30's & early 40's. Admittedly those trips involved him being shot at in North Africa, Syria and PNG so ----

 

[Lynda2475]

If the government had secured sufficient Pfizer or Moderna early then I truely belive the majority of younger people (especially those wanting to travel) would happily go and get a jab now. Especially if they came to work places like they do with flu jab (enrollments show 90% of our staff enrolled for the flu jab today purely because of the convenience of it being offered in the office).

Lots of complaining about the under 50s not getting the jab on this thread, but its not even an option unless you fall into 1a or 1b which is a small % of under 50s.

Given we have insufficient Pfizer at this point in time (and ongoing to much much later in the year), any advertising right now needs to target the over 50s as they are the ones who actually have a chance of being vaccinated in the next few months with AZ.

I agree the Feds need to publish the criteria (% target) for allowing HQ free travel for returning Aussies who have been fully vaccinated in Australia. But they cant realistically introduce tax incentives (i.e. a extra Medicare levy for anyone who doesn't get vaccinated) or stop you from attending events etc) UNTIL all adults have had a genuine opportunity to be vaccinated with the vaccine which is medically indicated for their age group.

Plus they need a plan for under 18s - if you look at the stats we have had a decent number of cases in under 18s, not much serious illness but huge risk of kids spreading the virus if not part of the vaccination plan.

I'm not going to argue about WW1/WW2 (noting that excepting Brazil none of South America participated in WW1, and most of it remained out of the frey in WW2 too, yet South America is being hammered big time by Covid). The point was Olympics cancelled due to the global impact of war and therefore should be cancelled now due to scale of impact of the pandemic. More Americans have already died from Covid than did from WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam wars combined.

This mornings news reports said they expect 100 active cases in Olympic village at any point in time, officials know they cant keep the virus out, so there is no safe competing given the atheletes arent doing a proper 14 day quarantine after arrival in Tokyo and not all nations sending teams are vaccinating them (and other are using questionable vaccines like Sino and Sputnik).