Belmont vaccination hub has had 5,000 booked Pfizer vaccines stripped and sent to Sydney. People simply got a cancellation txt with no option to re book at a later date ... or with a different vaccine. Needless to say, those who have been booked in for weeks (or months if transferred from a JHH booking) after very unhappy ... especially with the 1-7 days notice of "tough bikkies"
This article in the AFR nails it on the head. Australia COVID: Fortress Australia held hostage by vaccine thresholds I think although the government has provided a 70%-80% until international borders open. The actual REAL measure should be once everyone in the population has been given the opportunity to get the vaccine doses that should be the marker. Around 20% will never get the vaccine anyway so meeting 80% may be impossible so then the borders should open and that final decision is solely on the individual. Just like Biden said the other day "Covid is becoming a virus of the unvaccinated". Majority of the population cant be held hostage for the remaining 20% that are antivaxxers or would never get it anyway. Sooner or later "At some point, our leaders are going to have to take political responsibility for the decision to live with the virus." Its as simple as that. All this 0 cases is bull-crap, unsustainable and this dreaming idea should be thrown out. Get real everyone. It CANT be done. Australia cant and will not be locked out from the rest of the world. It will kill our nation in 10000x worse ways than Covid ever would and we would be the laughing stock of the entire world.
They've left out under 18s for some reason, so the real numbers are something like 55%-63%, which looks much better/achievable.
That's quite interesting, actually. Do the other countries count the under 18s in their percentage of vaccinated citizens?
The international standard is to count the entire population for statistics and targets. Having a random age range doesn't make sense since since everyone can catch covid. All European countries state statistics and targets as % of total population. The main statistics websites correct things, but can see a lot of news organisations still falling for the data fudging done by a few countries like US, Australia. Australian government is obscuring things even more by using the term "eligible population" instead of "over 18"/"adult".
My understanding is that for statistical purposes, the entire population is counted - but Scomo has targeted a percentage of the eligible population (or, adults) which has to be vaccinated in order for restrictions to be lifted.
He can target whoever he wants, but the truth is that 80% is probably unrealistic, due to a lot of outliers who don't want to get the vaccine.
Is there any specific health conditions where you cant get the jab? I thought anyone with health conditions are priority?
It might be realistic. But it also might be based on health advice that a certain percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to ensure herd immunity. If that's the case, he may already be stretching things by specifying the adult population.
There is a large body of research which is still ongoing obviously. Here is a link covering some. Vaccination and autoimmunity-'vaccinosis': a dangerous liaison? - PubMed
I don't believe that having an autoimmune condition precludes getting a vaccine. While there might be a slightly higher risk in getting the disease, a person with such a condition may be at a far higher risk of severe Illness from catching Covid-19. My wife has an autoimmune condition, and was advised to get the vaccine for that reason. It may be that people with a history of clotting problems should not get the vaccine.
Ultimately we are going to need to vaccinate kids as well to get proper herd immunity (I'm talking all kids, not just 12+). Trials are underway to assess safety. I will be vaxxing my toddler the second it's approved.
