The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[oznflfan]

No I think should be cancelled outright, Olympics were cancelled during WW1 and WW2, this pandemic is impacting more nations and people than either world war.

No

 

[Lynda2475]

No one really cares if people jump the AZ queue as most dont want to risk it and we are swimming in unused az already. Pfizer oth is a precious commodity so queue jumping is not ok.

If there is a mass outbreak in the olympic village or an athlete or official dies from Covid contracted in Tokyo that will be a much bigger problem than IOC showing some common sense and cancelling. They cam always give Tokyo 2024, move whomever had 2024 to 2028 etc (or give Japan the next available slot).

Hosting an Olympics isnt the goldmine it once was. Poor tv ratings and huge costs.

 

[Must...Fly!]

No one really cares if people jump the AZ queue as most dont want to risk it and we are swimming in unused az already.

First I've heard of this.

 

[serfty]

No one really cares if people jump the AZ queue as most dont want to risk it and we are swimming in unused az already.

You must move in different circles to me - Most people I know would happily take the 4E-6 risk and get the AZ ASAP.

Swimming in AZ? I have not come across that one before ...

 

[mviy]

Something worth noting is that the athletes are only going to the Olympics a limited time before their events start and have to leave promptly afterwards. Their support staff would have to do likewise. So a support staff member over 50 who isn't going till later in the Olympics should have more time to get vaccinated with AZ than some of the others.

 

[Pushka]

Something worth noting is that the athletes are only going to the Olympics a limited time before their events start and have to leave promptly afterwards. Their support staff would have to do likewise. So a support staff member over 50 who isn't going till later in the Olympics should have more time to get vaccinated with AZ than some of the others.

It will depend on their role. Many of the Admin and support staff may have responsibility over the whole team and not just a particular sport. Doping testers will be there the whole time, as in the case of my neighbour.

 

[Seat0B]

It obviously needs to be spelled out in words of 1 syllable. It’s totally obvious to me that until we have a large number of people vaccinated they won’t open up or allow travel, but clearly not obvious to the population.

I think people do understand this point, but simply don’t trust the government to follow through on their part of the bargain if you get vaccinated. Greg Hunt was pretty clear that even full population vaccination would not equate to border opening, and the PM today said he was not abandoning Australian citizens in India at the same time as ‘pausing’ flights - which probably feels like being abandoned. I really think that trust is the issue and it’s pretty low at the moment. YMMV.

 

[mviy]

No one really cares if people jump the AZ queue as most dont want to risk it and we are swimming in unused az already. Pfizer oth is a precious commodity so queue jumping is not ok.

If there's about 2,050 travelling, let's say as a guess it could be that about two thirds them are getting Pfizer, say 1,300 to keep the maths simple. We are getting 130,000 doses of Pfizer a week. So this means we need roughly just 2% of one week's supply of Pfizer to fully vaccinate all those going to the Olympics from Australia who are getting Pfizer. It's not going to make a material difference. That's talking about the current rate of supply. It's expected that the supply will ramp up to come in at a faster rate over the coming months.

Also some of the Paralympians might qualify for 1B even if they weren't going to the Paralympics so really should be excluded from the numbers considered to be "jumping the queue" as they could get the vaccine even if they weren't going. Similarly, those over 50 getting AZ should be excluded from the numbers considered to be "jumping the queue".

 

[Matt_01]

No I think should be cancelled outright, Olympics were cancelled during WW1 and WW2, this pandemic is impacting more nations and people than either world war.

Unless I have missed the purpose of your quote

Covid deaths 3.1M
WW I deaths ~ 20M (military and civilian combined)
WW II deaths ~ 75M (military and civilian combined)

The above numbers do not even take into account the wider family impacts caused through the impact death of family (grieving etc.)

In WW I and WW II these olympics were to be hosted in the countries who may not have started the war but were major contributors and aggressors. 1916 - Germany, 1940 - Japan, in 1944 - the UK were to host the games but it was cancelled. In the 1948 games I read somewhere that both Germany and Japan were banned from attending.

 

[mviy]

I think people do understand this point, but simply don’t trust the government to follow through on their part of the bargain if you get vaccinated.

I share that view. They are being cautious.

Greg Hunt was pretty clear that even full population vaccination would not equate to border opening

One hopes that's just positioning ahead of the election, not wanting to promise too much either way on the borders reopening or staying closed.

What I want to hear is what the PM and Health Minister are saying after the election, whoever they may be, about the rollout and what that means for reopening.

the PM today said he was not abandoning Australian citizens in India at the same time as ‘pausing’ flights - which probably feels like being abandoned. I really think that trust is the issue and it’s pretty low at the moment. YMMV.

I think it is time for there to be more camps like Howard Springs built, especially if mutations defeat the protection provided by the vaccine. People from lower risk countries should be sent to hotel quarantine and higher risk places like India at the moment if allowed in should be taken to camps like Howard Springs where the risk to the community and to those returning (if they manage to come back without the virus) can be minimised. We need to significantly boost quarantine capacity so that the backlog of those stranded overseas can be cleared freeing up space for more people to be allowed to depart.

 

[Lynda2475]

I have missed the purpose of your quote

My point was not about number of deaths, it was about breadth of impact. There were some parts of the world which were largely untouched by WW1 and WW2, whereas Covid is impacting all countries directly.

Swimming in AZ? I have not come across that one before

If you are in an eligible category call up any respiratory clinic and you will see how easy it is to get a same day AZ appoitnment. You only have to wait if you insist on seeing a GP. Also many articles about lack of people taking up appointments.

If we were short of AZ they wouldnt be bringing forward 2A to next week, they are doing this because uptake of AZ is poor (number of vaccinations per week in NSW has fallen significantly since AZ advice changed for under 50s) whilst supply keeps coming from CSL

 

[jonboixxx]

There were some parts of the world which were largely untouched by WW1 and WW2

No, most countries were involved and apart from injuries and casualties mentioned there was displacement of 10's of millions of civilians. In WWII, some 300 million combat soldiers. It's way off-topic, but it is a really poor comparison.

 

[Matt_01]

My point was not about number of deaths, it was about breadth of impact. There were some parts of the world which were largely untouched by WW1 and WW2, whereas Covid is impacting all countries directly.

Your argument is flawed.

 

[jakeseven7]

First I've heard of this.

Anti vaxxers don’t bother

Good news though it looks like a couple of big GP clinics are finally about to get more AZ which we were struggling with and they have thousands of patients on a waiting list ready to go. It’s a small piece of good news.... but important because the vaccine is going to waste in the ‘respiratory clinics’ because no one knows who / where they are / want to go to them.

There are also now some more trials of GP clinics administering Pfizer too following the TGA clearance. Not public though just testing.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I think people do understand this point, but simply don’t trust the government to follow through on their part of the bargain if you get vaccinated. Greg Hunt was pretty clear that even full population vaccination would not equate to border opening, and the PM today said he was not abandoning Australian citizens in India at the same time as ‘pausing’ flights - which probably feels like being abandoned. I really think that trust is the issue and it’s pretty low at the moment. YMMV.

I don’t like or trust pollies. I still don’t understand why people who can get vaccinated aren’t. We have been living in a nightmare for over a year (not as bad as overseas, but still horrible). The only way out is vaccination and herd immunity. Now maybe the vaccinations aren’t going to be good enough, maybe there will be more unknown side effects and maybe there is still going to be more pain ahead, but we have to try it, so the sooner we have large numbers vaccinated the sooner we will know!

with 150 million vaccinated worldwide, I think we know any immediate side effects, so its more a tiny chance of long term issues and also efficacy and longevity of the vaccines.

While there might be no guarantees of opening up if we are all vaccinated, I think there is an absolute guarantee that we won’t if vaccination rates remain low.

 

[jakeseven7]

Now maybe the vaccinations aren’t going to be good enough,

They are good enough to prevent our health systems from being overrun, mass severe illness and death. Which is what the goal is (should) be.

 

[OATEK]

They are good enough to prevent our health systems from being overrun, mass severe illness and death. Which is what the goal is (should) me.

Judging by comments on these threads and elsewhere our health systems are already overrun - with reports that EDs around Australia can barely cope. Hence the need to suspend flights from India. And expanding Howard Springs or building a new facility at Toowoomba will not change this unless we can build and staff health facilities to meet demand as we would be concentrating potentially very ill people in remote locations far from the best ED facilities.

So yes vaccination is important, but there is no perfect scenario that will allow free travel in/out of the country to resume.

 

[jakeseven7]

Judging by comments on these threads and elsewhere our health systems are already overrun

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.

 

[drron]

They are good enough to prevent our health systems from being overrun, mass severe illness and death. Which is what the goal is (should) be.

But our hospitals are overrun even without Covid.We only managed during the initial phase by stopping elective surgery and outpatient services freeing up beds and staff.

 

[Pushka]

I don’t like or trust pollies. I still don’t understand why people who can get vaccinated aren’t. We have been living in a nightmare for over a year (not as bad as overseas, but still horrible). The only way out is vaccination and herd immunity. Now maybe the vaccinations aren’t going to be good enough, maybe there will be more unknown side effects and maybe there is still going to be more pain ahead, but we have to try it, so the sooner we have large numbers vaccinated the sooner we will know!

with 150 million vaccinated worldwide, I think we know any immediate side effects, so its more a tiny chance of long term issues and also efficacy and longevity of the vaccines.

While there might be no guarantees of opening up if we are all vaccinated, I think there is an absolute guarantee that we won’t if vaccination rates remain low.

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.