By when Australia will be able to vaccinate 80% population

Bring on the vaccine passport.

 

My family-in-law doesn't want to get the vaccination.
Infuriating!
My wife is the only one that would, but she's currently pregnant.

 

Didn't Scomo turn away millions of Pfizer doses?

 

Not an entirely fair critisism. At the time there wasn't any reliable data on either vaccine, or the side effects. What was known was that Australia could manufacture Astrazenica locally but not Pfizer. AZ is also significnatly easier to store and distribute. This ensures reliability of supply in the long term, making Astrazaenica the logical choice based on the information avaialble at the time of that decision.

The side effects of AZ are well within acceptable limits. Everyone wants Pfizer because it has fewer side effects and a higher efficacy rate, that's certainly reasonable. However if the Pfizer vax didn't work, we'd all be happily lining up for AZ and most of the Asia Pacific region would be knocking on our door asking for some as well.

Overall there's been plenty of mistakes made by Australias leadership at all levels, right across the country. Keep in mind they didn't really have a proven playbook on how to deal with this. What we can be greatful for is that our leadership has demonstrated an ability to recognise errors and change their approach. This is more than can be said for may other world leaders.

 

You're probably right. While I don't support how Scomo and Berejiklian have handled the situation, it hasn't been a complete cockup like with Bolsonaro or Trump either. Though I do feel that Barnaby might come close to their level, if he got the chance.

 

The Sunshine Coast is apparently going to run out on Monday… not sure if this means my Wednesday appointment (for the 2nd shot) will be cancelled.

 

I agree. This response ‘in general’ has been fairly good. The exception is the lack of proper quarantine facilities. I don’t understand why the feds were pushing back on this. Perhaps they did at the start and didn’t want to admit they made a bad call so kept pushing back.

 

I'm speculating, but setting up quarantine facilities is difficult and expensive. Say it takes 6 months to build them and the vaccine rollout had gone to plan. You'd have a bunch of building sitting around, falling to pieces.

Does anyone know if Victoria's desalinisation plant is actually generating water today?

 

Not sure about the Pfizer clotting risk. Here is the documented risk from AZ for various age groups.

Age Estimated risk of TTS per 100,000
AstraZeneca vaccine doses (first dose)

• <50 years 3.1
• 50-59 years 2.7
• 60-69 years 1.4
• 70-79 years 1.8
• 80+ years 1.9

There have been around 60 cases in Australia so far. There is only one case of TTS in under 40 from AZ mainly because not many under 40 have received AZ.

COVID-19 vaccine weekly safety report - 17-06-2021

Draw your own conclusions as our states and feds are currently interpreting ATAGI review very differently.

 

Not entirely true - it's simply that the Pfizer side effects haven't been fully publicized in the media (which does make one wonder why). Both vaccines have a similar rate of risk - the AZ of blood clots - the Pfizer of heart inflammation.

Efficacy of both is pretty darn close to not really be a factor (and most people wouldn't know anyhow).

The cynic in me does wonder if there was dark money behind the anti-AZ social media campaign, as it is cheap and easily replicated, whereas the Pfizer is owned by a powerful and cashed up pharmaceutical company

 

That's not true. Pfizer heart inflammation rate is 1.2 per 100,000 people which is much lower than AZ blood clotting risk even for over 60s. Pfizer heart inflammation risk is also more prevalent among under 30s, posing very little risk to over 30s.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/26/fda...-inflammation-to-pfizer-moderna-vaccines.html

If you are selfish about your own safety at any age and have a choice of vaccine, you are better off making the same choice Scomo made for himself - Pfizer.

 

Perhaps Pfizer has more favour in some parts of the community because they created Viagra.

 

It's very much in the same order of magnitude though and I think the AZ concerns would be the same they are now, if their rate averaged out at 1.2 per 100,000.

 

AstraZeneca is also a very powerful and cashed up pharma giant with $25b in revenue compared to Pfizer at $41b.

AZ is easier to transport and administer hence possible to distribute via GP channels. Pfizer is a logistic nightmare and also remains short in supply due to more demand worldwide hence governments are (rightfully) trying to push AZ in cases where risk isn't too great.

In the end, getting vaccinated with either of the two is much much safer than staying unvaccinated. If you are offered a choice, take Pfizer else get whichever gets offered to you first and get it fast!

 

Everyone forgets that we weren't first in line when a vaccine became available.

Maybe govco should seasonally adjust their figures, pro rata a 6 month late start and only report on adult population (we're actually doing a good job with 35% now)

 

Australia started exactly 2 months after Europe (start of Jan vs start of March).

Yes I think some places report adults vaxed to make themselves look better.
If assume 23% of a western population is under 18, then
%Adults vaxed = 1.3 * %Total vaxed.
%Total vaxed = 0.77 * %Adults vaxed.

 

US and UK started back in December 2020