Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[lovetravellingoz]

PNGs proximity which is why we rushed to vaccinate torres straight islanders - yet you arent arguing we should of held off doing that and sent those vaccines to PNG first.

Why would I when it is a better idea to do both.

Don't forget that in 1b you have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 years and over

 

[Lynda2475]

Ah, so there is the rub. Your self-interest.

Quite a leap of your imagination there! I am not in 1A or 1B nor over 50 so diverting AZ doses to PNG doesnt impact me personally at all. But I have family and friends who are in 1A and 1B and dont want them or other in that category delayed. It makes sense to delay 1B for 1A, but not to delay either for anyone else.

I am concerned about my ICU nurse friend who is treating one of the 2 hospitalised covid-19 patients in NSW as we speak but cant get her second Pfizer shot until September, that has nothing to do with me. I am annoyed that those not working with Covid positives have received vaccines before those that do (again nothing to do with me personally).

More made up and quite hysterical rubbish by yourself.

Jake suggested we give more a heap more doses to PNG, I didnt make this up. I simply stated under what circumstances I am against that idea. Why is it ok for one member to say what they would like to see happen ( a hypothetiucal), but not for me to disagree with that hypothetical and say why? I never posted that the Govt were planning to give Pfizer away just that I am against them doing so.

Again you go looking to pick fights and invent a motive or things that were never said. Im neither hysterical nor making up things, just stating my position. It is possible to have a position on something that has yet to happen. However, you are incapable of recognising that just because a situation isnt the topic of a newpaper artcile it can still be discussed. I can make up my own mind on what I would like to see happen or not happen.

Do I support ability to order vaccines privately should they become legitimately available (not stolen from govenrment orders)? Of course I do (and many others would also happily pay a premium to receive their vaccination of choice).

Do I support vaccine choice under govenrment when supply allows it? Yes I do, especially as choice will lead to higher uptake.

I have never suggested anyone should jump the freebie government queue - in fact Ive argued that 1A under 50s should be guranteed their Pfizer ahead of anyone in 1B. However, when feasible there should also be private paid options like there is for other vaccinations such as HPV. Private options take pressure of govenrment programs, and again choice gives control which promotes greater consumer confidence.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I am concerned about my ICU nurse friend who is treating one of the 2 hospitalised covid-19 patients in NSW as we speak but cant get her second Pfizer shot until September, that has nothing to do with me. I am concedrned that those not working with Covid positives have received vaccines before those that do (again nothing to do with me personally).

You have mentioned this several times in various posts. It’s obviously concerning you.
It’s very obviously an Administrative error.
I am certain as a fellow frontline HCW in NSW in 1A that if your friend rocks up 3 weeks after her first dose to the same Pfizer hub to get her second dose then it will happen.
There will be no wait until September

 

[Lynda2475]

I am certain as a frontline HCW in NSW in 1A that I’d your friend rocks up 3 weeks after her first dose to the Pfizer hub to get her second then it will happen.

I sincerely hope you are right (she is due next week), but she would feel better having a guranteed appointment and not risking being turned away. Plus obviously needs an appointment to be allowed the time off to go to RPA.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I sincerely hope you are right (she is due next week), but she would feel better having a guranteed appointment and not risking being turned away. Plus obviously needs an appointment to be allowed the time off to go to RPA.

Most people I know and work with just go at the start or end of their shift. I’m sure she’s not the only one with an Administrative cough up and her NUM or manager will be more than happy to allow her the appropriate leave.

 

[RAM]

Disclosed just now by SA Health that 15% of people working in the quarantine situation have refused so far, to be vaccinated.

Curious - NZ has been publishing the figures and it has been less than 1% for them BEFORE Ardern got 'heated' and gave an ultimatum as one particular hotel security operation was responsible for the lions share including the recent infection where the guard had not turned up for two appointments (NZ doing them at the various workplaces for convenience).

 

[RAM]

Yesterday SA had 8 infections detected with five from one family who only arrived on Monday. So positive result by Day 3 tested on day 1 or 2. From India. How likely is it that they all had a negative test in order to fly then all five of them are positive within a day of arrival. Can we trust the authenticity of the pre departure tests now?

Been meaning to put this article up for a few days now:

Fake COVID vaccination cards are spreading like a virus online

A black market in fake vaccination record cards is reaching epidemic proportions online. Fraudsters have been hawking knock-offs of the three-by-four-inch cards on retail sites including eBay, Etsy…

nypost.com

A topic of conversation on AFF around last September I think....

 

[RAM]

The loophole where we are letting non-citizens and non-residents (i.e. extended family members who do not contribute to the economy by working or paying taxes) in really ought to have been closed long ago.

Flights and HQ places should prioritize citizens, then permanent residents. It infuriates me that some people have been able to pay for non-resident relatives to come stay, when many Aussies are being denied ability to leave to visit their relatives which live overseas and other Aussies cant get a flight or HQ spot to come home.

You mean like NZ has done since nearly day 1. No flight booking until a Managed quarantine hotel position confirmed on a NZ citizen first basis run by the NZ Govt.

Too simple if the Federal Govt actually wanted to solve the problem.

 

[RAM]

You have mentioned this several times in various posts. It’s obviously concerning you.
It’s very obviously an Administrative error.
I am certain as a fellow frontline HCW in NSW in 1A that if your friend rocks up 3 weeks after her first dose to the same Pfizer hub to get her second dose then it will happen.
There will be no wait until September

Must be a very widespread administrative error as in NSW for most 5th Year & 6th Yr Med students, in Priority 1A were sent an email last week (just before the AZ pause) telling them to go tho their GPs instead and stating that many VMOs & JMOs were in the same situation statewide. I included part of the email text in a post last week. My 6th yr med student daughter was very concerned given what was being discussed internally about the AZ vaccine & 'reporting' of side effects generally.

Equally, an entire clinical team still has not had an appointment made (as of last Saturday) for any of them at a major Sydney hospital meanwhile numerous non-CV facing administrators (not ward clerks) have had both injections. This team is about as close to CV facing as you can get without working in a 'hot hotel'. Stressed is an understatement.

 

[RAM]

BTW - in Singapore another case of a fully (Pfizer I believe) vaccinated person caught CV 2 months later. Tricky case as no apparent link who he caught it from. In typical Singaporean style, they are testing people every 14 days even if vaccinated in certain jobs (waterfront worker in this case).

Migrant worker who tested positive for COVID-19 completed vaccination

SINGAPORE: The sole dormitory case in Singapore on Sunday (Apr 11) had completed the full COVID-19 vaccination regimen and the case is a reminder that "it is possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected", said MOH. The 23-year-old man from India, identified as Cas

www.channelnewsasia.com

The man received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Jan 25 and the second dose on Feb 17.

MOH added that further research is required to determine if vaccination will prevent onward transmission of the infection.

The work permit holder is the first COVID-19 infection reported in a foreign worker dormitory in six weeks - the last such case was reported on Feb 28.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I am concerned about my ICU nurse friend who is treating one of the 2 hospitalised covid-19 patients in NSW as we speak but cant get her second Pfizer shot until September, that has nothing to do with me. I am annoyed that those not working with Covid positives have received vaccines before those that do (again nothing to do with me personally).

Just to be honest/rude -can you please stop mentioning your friend who is treating covid patients?!?!

You clearly missed the point that a lot of 1A workers around the country were not vaccinated when some States started to claim that all quarantine workers were vaccinated - only for you to be horrified days/weeks later when finding out your personal friend in 1A was not vaccinated.

Pretty sure it was mentioned that 1A workers were going to be reclassified as 1B workers with the ramping up of Astra Zeneca. Now with the blood clotting issue, it’s becoming a train wreck.

As noted by RAM

Must be a very widespread administrative error as in NSW for most 5th Year & 6th Yr Med students, in Priority 1A were sent an email last week (just before the AZ pause) telling them to go tho their GPs instead and stating that many VMOs & JMOs were in the same situation statewide. I included part of the email text in a post last week. My 6th yr med student daughter was very concerned given what was being discussed internally about the AZ vaccine & 'reporting' of side effects generally.

Equally, an entire clinical team still has not had an appointment made (as of last Saturday) for any of them at a major Sydney hospital meanwhile numerous non-CV facing administrators (not ward clerks) have had both injections. This team is about as close to CV facing as you can get without working in a 'hot hotel'. Stressed is an understatement.

... and believe it or not, it’s happening around the country. A few on AFF know people in covid-facing wards and the issue has been kicking around in the background for a while now - well before your friend told you.

So I think the point being made by others is you are coming off that it’s all about you, your point of view and what’s best for you, your parents and your friends.

PS please stop arguing/nit picking with LTO. It’s already tiring for the rest of us reading for weeks/months.

 

[jakeseven7]

If you or Jake personally want to donate your dose go ahead, but dont try to volunteer doses meant for those working with Covid positives or other vulnerable Australians.

Morals are relative, PNG is not a dependent territory.

Wow.....

I’m sorry Lynda2475, I probably agree with a lot of your posts in general but this has pushed into a new territory altogether which makes me very uncomfortable with what you are saying.

I’m not going to get drawn into a debate with you about ‘relative’ (?) morals, ethics or simply what is the right thing to do when there are people literally dying in the streets, right now while we live in a covid free country.

You’ve made it very clear what you think should happen to those people, what we should and should not be doing to try and help them and I have a different view.

Will leave that one there I think and move on back to the topic of zero spread of the virus in Australia.

 

[jonboixxx]

WOOHOOIt's mask-off Thursday in QLD. (Somehow I feel the need to celebrate the very very small wins today)

 

[RAM]

Decided to see if the data existed some where that I'd missed and came across this article which provides some hard data on the 'privatised' vaccine rollout.


The Govt announced that:

"It is anticipated that the roll out to aged care facilities will take approximately six weeks.

Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the vaccine implementation plan for residential aged care aimed to administer vaccines to more than 240 aged care facilities in the first week."

Note this is solely using the Pfizer vaccine which had no supply disruptions. Here we are near the end of Week 9 and still no end in sight.


The overall numbers mentioned are somewhat different to the oft-shown Priority 1A chart. The numbers below refer to residents not workers.

"Aged care vaccination rollout​

Which brings us to the actual vaccination roll out in federal aged care homes. It was outsourced to Healthcare Australia and Aspen Medical. Healthcare Australia was contracted to provide the vaccination workforce in NSW and Queensland and Aspen Medical for the other states and territories.

On 16 February 2021, the Health Minister announced: “In the coming weeks, the vaccination program will reach more than 2,600 residential aged care facilities, more than 183,000 residents and 339,000 staff.” A few days later, the Prime Minister said: “We’re ready to go. … We have been preparing, we have been planning, we have been dotting the Is and crossing the Ts.”

Seven weeks later, residents in just 35% of federal aged care homes have had their first dose of the Covid vaccine and 15% the second."

End neo-liberal experiment: gutting of bureaucracy led to vaccine and aged care failures - Michael West

Vaccine debacle is further evidence that the federal Department of Health should not be in charge of fixing up the aged care sector.

www.michaelwest.com.au

It seems that Disability care homes may not have commenced as of end Week 7 but not certain.

 

[SydneySwan]

we have been dotting the Is and crossing the Ts

There were many more Is and Ts than they thought.

 

[drron]

Australia has been treating patients from PNG and the Pacific islands for years. In 1970 I remember looking after patients from PNG, Noumea and Vanuatu.
Where else should they go for treatment that can't be done in their own country?

 

[kamchatsky]

Australia has been treating patients from PNG and the Pacific islands for years. In 1970 I remember looking after patients from PNG, Noumea and Vanuatu.
Where else should they go for treatment that can't be done in their own country?

On top of this, with China starting to build relations with the Pacific Islands, it is actually in Australia's strategic best interest to assist neighbouring Pacific countries when in need, especially Australia is so safe right now:

The great wharf from China, raising eyebrows across the Pacific

There are fears a Beijing-funded wharf in Vanuatu could eventually be converted into a Chinese naval installation.

www.smh.com.au

Given PNG is so close to Australia, it makes sense to give them vaccines. Afterall, CSL has been contracted to make millions of AZ vaccines. With PNG in such trouble it makes sense to give those vaccines to them.

Ultimately it would be good to see if Australia can manufacture other vaccines (eg. Pfizer etc), as I can see this as a regular need going for many years.

 

[Lynda2475]

Where else should they go for treatment that can't be done in their own country?

That wasnt what was being discussed until LTO twisted the conversation as he loves to do, picking things out of context and claiming things that were never said.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

That wasnt what was being discussed until LTO twisted the conversation as he loves to do, picking things out of context and claiming things that were never said.

Well since you directly referenced me and once again with a false claim, let us look at your claim that treatment of people from PNG was not being discussed till I "twisted the conversation".

The discussion on treatment started in the sections pasted below. You seem to have forgotten that it was started by yourself commenting on a post of drron's.






1/ Note that I did not start the discussion on treatment.
2/ Indeed you were the first person to raise treatment, rather than I 'twisting" things.
3/ I did not comment on treatment till several other people had, and my first comment was on a post by Suze2000
4/ The thread then further evolved with many different contributors as they often do on forumslike this, including your unsubstantiated claim that Qld Health were knowlingly puting at risk Australians by bring in Covid Cases for treatment from PNG whereas so far there has not been one case so far identified of an infectious person being brought into Australia for treatment from PNG. You are yet to provide any evidence of your claim.

This is also you discussing treatment of people from PNG in Australia.

And factually incorrect as well as people from all walks of life from PNG come to Australia for treatment. And as drron recalled for some 5 decades just within his direct experience.

 

[RAM]

And factually incorrect as well as people from all walks of life from PNG come to Australia for treatment. And as drron recalled for some 5 decades just within his direct experience.

Just to add some background - Australia was the colonial power running PNG until 1975 (complete with Aust public servants and Q crashing there - freight that is). Also the same for Nauru.

This article provides a good overview.

PNG marks 40 years of independence, still feeling the effects of Australian colonialism

Australian colonial rule and its legacy tend to be neglected, but as Papua New Guinea marks 40 years of independence the nation is still living with the consequences.

theconversation.com

I wonder how many people in Australia today would know/remember this? Good trivia question?