The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[Dockhead]

Oz has just passed the EU in cumulative vaccine doses administered per capita.





That's pretty amazing.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Oz has just passed the EU in cumulative vaccine doses administered per capita.


Attachment 247191


That's pretty amazing.

Why? Overall Australia has an excellent record in public health matters.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Why? Overall Australia has an excellent record in public health matters.

And I think - as just about everything covid related has been dealt with at the state level - you have to look at the figures state by state. If we discard the laggard states we see that NSW has administered 11.5 million doses to a population of 7 million.
That equals a rate 164.

Figures can be found here

https://www.theage.com.au/national/c...28-p56xht.html

Ahead of both Portugal and Denmark but still behind Uruguay and Chile.
Aren't statistics wonderful things!

[El Pinguino]

I neglected to mention that Uruguay and Chile are well into administering boosters

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

[GILow]

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…

Why everyone from podcaster Joe Rogan to Republican Ted Cruz suddenly wants to 'save Australia'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-...licy/100553548

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by GILow

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…

Why everyone from podcaster Joe Rogan to Republican Ted Cruz suddenly wants to 'save Australia'
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-...licy/100553548

Mate, I feel for the gullible that actually believe that crap.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Mate, I feel for the gullible that actually believe that crap.

Methinks it more appropriate to feel betrayed by generations of elected political leaders of Australia, of all political party persuasions, who have facilitated Aus and Aussies being used by the leaders of other economies in their culture wars, their military conflicts, their geopolitical posturing.

Start by looking back to the end of WW2 and think about each federal leadership team and their behaviour toward foreign leaders. Or make it simpler and only look back to about 1970, when Aus started to get a grip on its foreign policy (some of the more cynical would say that Aus was only legally entitled to have an independent foreign policy starting in the mid- to late- 1980s).

Which Aus leader(s) ever enunciated a foreign policy that saw Aus as anything but a pawn of others? Which Aus leaders ever saw Aus in the context of its real geographical neighbours, and then sought to negotiate a future for Aus based on that?

Contrast that with the long list of post-WW2 Aus leaders who saw Aus as an exclave of the UK or as a large island lying somewhere just off the coast of Hawai'i or California.

It's pointless railing against foreigners who use Aus as an example (distorted or otherwise) in their culture wars or their domestic political struggles. If Aus leaders facilitate that by their simpering, that guarantees the right of such foreign leaders to so do.

[El Pinguino]

Three hours and thirty minutes ago the fair state of Victoria - despite having been starved of vaccines by the PM for NSW - crossed the 90% 'one shot for all over 16's ' line. So 90% fully vaxxed and effective by end of November.

And - surprise surprise - NZ now has a greater % vaxxed than Australia.

And also - NSW is on 93% and ACT 98% first shot.

I'm beginning to think that intelligence and vaccine acceptancy are directly related.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

And - surprise surprise - NZ now has a greater % vaxxed than Australia.

And also - NSW is on 93% and ACT 98% first shot.

I'm beginning to think that intelligence and vaccine acceptancy are directly related.

Perspective helps.

Questions:

1. what Third World economies have done a better job than Aus at immunising their populations?
2. how many doses of vaccine have gone to waste in Aus?
3. how many doses of vaccine has the govt of Aus donated to neighbouring economies?

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I'm beginning to think that intelligence and vaccine acceptancy are directly related.

that...imho...is one of the most sensible comments in this thread

cheers,

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Perspective helps.

Questions:

1. what Third World economies have done a better job than Aus at immunising their populations?
2. how many doses of vaccine have gone to waste in Aus?
3. how many doses of vaccine has the govt of Aus donated to neighbouring economies?

#1 I think the expression '3rd world' is a bit passé. While Chile and Uruguay have done a better job than Aus I wouldn't consider either one '3rd world' or 'underdeveloped'. Chile's economy is much the same as Australia's - agrarian plus mining ( copper in their case).
#2 Dunno, but I was reading the other day about problems with expiring vaccines in the federal/ pharmacy distribution system. Anything the feds touch re covid seems to turn to custard.
#3 Not enough. CSL say once they have fulfilled their present contract with the federal government they are going to stop producing Astra Zeneca. Canberra should be signing them up to make as much AZ as they possibly can for gifting to PNG and any other areas of need. Bugger all wrong with AZ I'm still here so it seems to work - and Chile is using AZ for their boosters on top of their early use of the chinese vaccs.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by chrisr

that...imho...is one of the most sensible comments in this thread

Agreed in large part.

Other elements, including distrust of govt and fear incited by certain people, may play a role.

Do you read Jack the Insider, currently a column in one of the Murdoch rags?

JtI is of course Peter Hoystead, a journo who has sold his talent to diverse publishers, as well as previously publishing a weblog.

JtI has spent a week or three examining the anti-vaxxer phenomenon.

He summed up his findings this week: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...113fca94f50d40

Just in case you're in a jurisdiction to which the Murdoch press applies a paywall, I'll quote some of JtI's key paras.

First, he has over the past few weeks argued that: "the big kahunas in the anti vax movement, all of them in the US, all of them on the grift, all of them flogging some sketchy remedy to new age hypochondriacs. Some had cut their teeth in cancer treatment fakery. The pandemic came just in time to fill their coffers with cash. They can’t say their supplements cure Covid-19, or the regulators will be over them like a bad case of shingles. But they hint at it. In terms of cash flow, the worst thing that can happen to these con artists is a successful and effective vaccine roll out."

Second, JtI argued that: "The business model at the pointy end of anti-vax activism in Australia, if we can call it that, is different although it remains grounded in monetising fear and anxiety. They live off donations. Imagine it. In the middle of a pandemic, perfectly healthy young people who essentially live off charity. They don’t merely exist. They flourish by what appears to be an inexhaustible supply of people here and overseas prepared to throw cash into their pots.

"Some of these activists have the nerve to claim mental illness has risen in our communities which it almost certainly has, without acknowledging the obvious point that they have contributed to a rise in depression and anxiety and in no small way.

"The scaremongering has changed over time. Before the development of Covid-19 vaccinations, they claimed the pandemic didn’t exist. It was a plandemic, organised by a deep state cabal of the wealthiest and most influential people on the planet. Then when the vaccines did roll out, those vaccines would kill us all or render reproductive systems barren and desolate. Pregnant women would suffer miscarriages, others would metamorphosise into reptiles.

"When that didn’t pan out, anti-vax activists shifted again. Vaccines would kill our children. Now, the doom merchants concentrate on vaccine mandates based on the ghastly notion that it should be permissible for those in aged care or health care to wander into their workplaces while infectious."

In short, JtI - who has done the research - argues that it's all about money. The anti-vaxxers in Aus have preyed on fear and sought benefits by donations and, when collared by coppers, sought crowd-funded support for their legal fees.

[GordMay]

COVID hits Melbourne migrant detention facility

A third of the refugees and asylum seekers* held in a Melbourne immigration detention hotel have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Australian Border Force (ABF), prompting more calls for the government to extend immediate medical care to the migrants and release them into the community.
* There are 46 refugees and asylum seekers in the facility; one hospitalised and the remaining 45 in isolation or confined to their rooms.
Figures, released by the government [NO citation], on Monday, show that only 52 percent have received a single dose, and just 17 percent are fully vaccinated.

More ➥ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/...ntion-facility

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Why? Overall Australia has an excellent record in public health matters.

Because not many months ago, Australia was the least vaccinated developed country in the world. Who could have expected such a dramatic catch-up?


Anyway, expected or unexpected, it's great news. You should be getting pretty close to herd immunity by now.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Because not many months ago, Australia was the least vaccinated developed country in the world. Who could have expected such a dramatic catch-up?


Anyway, expected or unexpected, it's great news. You should be getting pretty close to herd immunity by now.

I think it has been decided herd immunity is not possible with the high transmissibility of the Delta variant, as the vaccines (and even previous disease) do not prevent re-infection. Multiple vaccines or infections may possibly achieve this.

SWL