My apologies in advance if this has already been addressed but, in looking at vaccination rates for various countries around the world, I noticed some huge surprises--the biggest one being the extremely low vaccination rate in Australia. Given the relative wealth, education level, etc. as well as close ties to Great Britain, I was astonished to see that Australia has only vaccinated 5.9% of its population! I was also shocked at the lower levels of vaccination in Canada, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and France, among other countries but Australia really floored me.
Why are
the levels of vaccination so low in these relatively wealthy countries, especially given the socialized medicine? Here in the US, we are able to be vaccinated free of charge and our rates are much higher than any of the countries I mentioned (and lower than some countries I would not have expected to have high rates).
Why?
Here in the US, it's mostly idiots who refuse to be vaccinated, along with some who simply cannot be vaccinated. I would not guess that the levels of idiocy are higher in Canada, Australia, or any of the other countries.
The big problem in Australia is that, due to the very effective response by our (mostly Labor) state governments, we essentially don't have Covid here. It was something that happened in early 2020.
That's changed in the last week, unfortunately. But the fact remains that until now, the urgency from the public to get vaccinated was low.
Worse, the obtaining of vaccines is a federal responsibility, and our Liberal PM is neither personally inclined to give a shit, nor competent to be effective even if he did. Small amounts of the Pfizer were obtained, but have now been used up and further doses not ordered. That's partly because the PM got his, so fuck the people; But more because the strategy here was to make our own. To that end, the AstraZeneca was licenced to be made in Australia, and millions of doses are available, but the TGA reviewed the blood clotting issues and advised that it only be given to people over fifty. Then they reviewed it again, and raised that to sixty.
I got my first dose of AZ three days before the age limit increase would have rendered me ineligible; Those of us between 50 and 60 who got the first dose are currently permitted to get the second, but if you haven't yet had dose one and are under 60, Pfizer is the only approved vaccine, and it's in very short supply. The TGA are urgently reviewing the Moderna now, but it will take time to be approved, and likely more time again to get reasonable numbers of doses imported and distributed.
Meanwhile our international arrivals quarantine system has repeatedly failed, causing outbreaks that require strict lockdowns to contain in a population that's neither vaccinated, nor contains a population of recovered Covid patients who might have acquired immunity.
The federal government are responsible for only two aspects of our Covid response - Obtaining and distributing vaccines, and quarantining international arrivals. Only two aspects of our response have failed. Our smug, vacuous, fundamentalist christian Prime Minister was never one for taking responsibility; He sees his role as taking credit when things work out well, and blaming others when they don't.
His deputy, Nationals "leader" Barnaby Joyce, is beyond a joke, and there's insufficient room on the Internet to detail all of his failings, but to get an idea of how exemplary his behaviour is, he was fined $200 by NSW police a couple of days ago for failure to wear a mask in public. He wasn't making a statement or attempting to assert an objection, he just didn't think that the rules mattered to the oh-so-important Barnaby Joyce - an attitude that typifies every aspect of his ignoble career. Unfortunately for Australia, he represents a federal division that would elect a dead possum on the side of the highway if it was wearing a National Party rosette.
It's wearing thin. And hopefully the voters will remember at the next election. But until then, we're rooted.
