The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[Pushka]

I doubt it myself

These days we need a icon in addition to the 7 usuals

 

[jb747]

Home quarantine is a game changer.

As I said, it would be equivalent to no quarantine for some. They'd be out and about, or they'd be having 200 of their best friends over for dinner.

Seeing a decision is expected to be made in September, they'd probably only decide to fund it if it appears by then that vaccines aren't going to be effective at stopping serious illness from mutant strains and that quarantine will be needed for much longer than hoped.

At that point I expect the borders would be completely closed, to all. No need for quarantine then.

 

[mviy]

As I said, it would be equivalent to no quarantine for some. They'd be out and about, or they'd be having 200 of their best friends over for dinner.

They could have huge fines, hotel quarantine, taking away their passport, and in the most extreme cases such as your 200 friends over for dinner even potentially imprisonment.

They could still have exemptions to depart that they could use to try to gauge how likely someone is to offend. Someone just wanting to travel for a holiday is less likely to do the right thing than someone who is likely to want to travel again in the next few years to see family and wouldn't want to lose their passport.

At that point I expect the borders would be completely closed, to all. No need for quarantine then.

Completely closing the borders is not a sustainable option over the long term. If the vaccine doesn't enable things to reopen a lot more then the only other solution is to scale up quarantine to handle much larger levels than currently.

 

[Pushka]

As I said, it would be equivalent to no quarantine for some. They'd be out and about, or they'd be having 200 of their best friends over for dinner.


At that point I expect the borders would be completely closed, to all. No need for quarantine then.

If they've gone to the bother of having the vaccination then possibly most will adhere.

 

[clifford]

I wonder what the Australian Government is doing about this?

UK orders 60m more doses of Pfizer Covid vaccine for booster jabs

Health secretary says greater supplies of vaccine will help safeguard progress in tackling coronavirus

www.theguardian.com

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I doubt it myself

Yes latest report is:

TGA says deaths of two NSW men unlikely linked to AstraZeneca vaccine​

The head of Australia’s drug regulator says two recent deaths that occurred after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine are unlikely to be linked to the jab.


A rare and severe clotting condition linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, is being investigated by regulators worldwide after it was linked to the vaccine.

But on Thursday afternoon the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Prof John Skerritt, told reporters “the current evidence does not suggest a likely association” between the deaths and the vaccination.

“We do have to remember that sadly, every week in Australia 3,000 people die of all sorts of causes,” he said. “In the weeks before they die, particularly if they are older people or if they are hospitalised, they may have had a number of medical interventions of different types, which may not include Covid vaccinations.”

This did not mean the vaccine caused their deaths, he said.

“I would strongly caution the public and the media in reaching any conclusion on the two fatality cases mentioned in the media,” Skerritt said.

“Although those cases are still under investigation, and for privacy reasons I don’t want to go into details of individual patient tests and results and other conditions they may or may not have had, the current evidence does not suggest a likely association.”

TGA says deaths of two NSW men unlikely linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

Head of Australia’s drugs regulator urges caution about linking recent deaths, one from blood clots, to Covid-19 vaccine

www.theguardian.com

 

[roogirl]

If they've gone to the bother of having the vaccination then possibly most will adhere.

I actually think it’s the opposite. Once you’re vaxxed the reason for locking yourself in seems even more ridiculous. We see this in the U.K. - as soon as people are vaxxed (even those shouting loudest about locking down to save granny) they start breaking the rules.

 

[roogirl]

I should say that it doesn’t seem to make a difference if you do break the rules because...newsflash! Vaccines work!

 

[OZDUCK]

I wonder what the Australian Government is doing about this?

UK orders 60m more doses of Pfizer Covid vaccine for booster jabs

Health secretary says greater supplies of vaccine will help safeguard progress in tackling coronavirus

www.theguardian.com

As little regard as I have for the Government, in general I think that they have already done similar. To quote the BBC the UK "Pfizer jabs were a forward order and had not been manufactured yet". To me that is what has already happened here with the extra Pfizer order earlier plus 51 million doses of Novavax due for later this year.

 

[mviy]

I wonder what the Australian Government is doing about this?

UK orders 60m more doses of Pfizer Covid vaccine for booster jabs

Health secretary says greater supplies of vaccine will help safeguard progress in tackling coronavirus

www.theguardian.com

That is an interesting question. Whether we will be largely reliant on Pfizer or whether Novavax or other options we can use will work for booster jabs as well will remain to be seen. I guess AstraZeneca may end up getting used for boosters as well though that seems less likely now than it did before.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some vaccine and other COVID related announcements in the budget in under 2 weeks.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

A great New York Times article on production of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the USA - web archive article to bypass the paywall

How Pfizer Makes Its Covid-19 Vaccine - The New York Times


.​

 

[jakeseven7]

Yes latest report is:

TGA says deaths of two NSW men unlikely linked to AstraZeneca vaccine​

The head of Australia’s drug regulator says two recent deaths that occurred after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine are unlikely to be linked to the jab.


A rare and severe clotting condition linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, is being investigated by regulators worldwide after it was linked to the vaccine.

But on Thursday afternoon the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Prof John Skerritt, told reporters “the current evidence does not suggest a likely association” between the deaths and the vaccination.

“We do have to remember that sadly, every week in Australia 3,000 people die of all sorts of causes,” he said. “In the weeks before they die, particularly if they are older people or if they are hospitalised, they may have had a number of medical interventions of different types, which may not include Covid vaccinations.”

This did not mean the vaccine caused their deaths, he said.

“I would strongly caution the public and the media in reaching any conclusion on the two fatality cases mentioned in the media,” Skerritt said.

“Although those cases are still under investigation, and for privacy reasons I don’t want to go into details of individual patient tests and results and other conditions they may or may not have had, the current evidence does not suggest a likely association.”

TGA says deaths of two NSW men unlikely linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

Head of Australia’s drugs regulator urges caution about linking recent deaths, one from blood clots, to Covid-19 vaccine

www.theguardian.com

Im sure this won’t get published in nonews though so all the masses including those who breathlessly post every sore arm related to AZ on here will miss it and keep on talking the vaccine down. Sigh.

 

[jakeseven7]

Interesting: Vic after steadily building out their vaccination capacity whilst the other states bickered with the Feds about who should do it, has now edged past NSW in absolute vaccinations despite having a smaller population base.

Hopefully some state egos will kick in and we will see a race to vaccinate which would be a helpful state v state race to have (for once!).

I don’t know what the per capita race is looking like, I’m sure someone from one of the smaller states will pipe up

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Interesting: Vic after steadily building out their vaccination capacity whilst the other states bickered with the Feds about who should do it, has now edged past NSW in absolute vaccinations despite having a smaller population base.

Thats great news, but we are still too slow in rolling this vaccine out.

Shouldn't we be up to 4 or 5 million vaccinated by now (CSL to produce 1 million units per week back in Feb/March)?
At this rate, Australia will be celebrating herd immunity in 2028...

 

[jakeseven7]

Thats great news, but we are still too slow in rolling this vaccine out.

Totally agree but in absence of big good news taking small wins anywhere we can!

I’m sure NSW is not thrilled at their vaccination rate, especially falling behind VIC and will fight tooth and nail to get back on top - which will provoke the Victorians and QLDers etc etc - like I said for once interstate rivalry could be put to some good use

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Germany did 1,168,818 million vaccinated yesterday. In just 2 or 3 days, they will beat our total

 

[MelMel]

Interesting........a few days ago it said Pfizer is unavailable at our clinics. I will keep checking to see what eventuates

 

[Amanad78]

View attachment 246755Interesting........a few days ago it said Pfizer is unavailable at our clinics. I will keep checking to see what eventuates

This has been up since Tuesday, I keep checking back as we are certainly 'later in the week' now, but no update yet

 

[Flying mermaid]

Thats great news, but we are still too slow in rolling this vaccine out.

Shouldn't we be up to 4 or 5 million vaccinated by now (CSL to produce 1 million units per week back in Feb/March)?
At this rate, Australia will be celebrating herd immunity in 2028...

I am a big believer in people taking responsibility for themselves. Plenty of vaccine around and vaccinations for eligible people (some localities might have issues). Instead of sitting around complaining that their GP doesn’t have any, or they only want the Pfizer (like a big 75 year old baby I saw at the clinic yesterday), if people go and find a place and get vaccinated our rates would be much higher. Its not just a case of “the guvmint orta do something”, we have to do it ourselves.

 

[Lynda2475]

’m sure NSW is not thrilled at their vaccination rate, especially falling behind VIC and will fight tooth and nail to get back on top - which will provoke the Victorians and QLDers etc etc - like I said for once interstate rivalry could be put to some good use

I dont think so, NSW Premier has been very clear why they are following a different timeline wrt to giving access to mass vaccination centre at Olympic Park and the 3 Hospital Pfizer clinic to wider community (other than frontline workers in 1a and 1b) and that is because unlike in other states Feds have asked NSW to take over some of their 1a and 1b responsibilities and rightly those actually at risk are being given first access.

You wont see any acceleration for 2a in NSW for a few weeks, the timeline is different 17th May all over 50s can go to a GP or Respiratory Clinic and 24th May for Olympic Park Centre, Pfizer Hospitals hubs unlikely to open more widely before June.

As soon as Pfizer is available of for 2B I will be first in line, but no value in me risking AZ before then, given our international borders are closed.