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>And Australia with its minimal vaccine purchase. I wouldn't say Australia purchased the minimum amount. The two vaccines they settled on (very similar to the

>And Australia with its minimal vaccine purchase. I wouldn't say Australia purchased the minimum amount. The two vaccines they settled on (very similar to the UK strategy) were AstraZeneca and Pfizer. With a population of ~26million people, they secured 10 million Pfizer doses in November 2020 and would cover the rest of the population with AstraZeneca as the global supply of Pfizer was severely constrained and Australia, being essentially low-risk, had very low priority compared to other countries. In February 2021, the government secured an additional 10 million Pfizer doses and another 20 million in April 2021. 20 million of the 25 million population would be covered on Pfizer alone, and once local manufacturing of AstraZeneca ramped up, the entire population again essentially have access to AstraZeneca. I don't recall the exact numbers, but I believe at one point we were producing a million AZ doses a week. AZ was never supply constrained. Where it all went wrong though was that since Australia had near zero COVID risk locally, the Australian Immunization Advisory Group weighed up the risk of AstraZeneca clotting against chance of contracting the disease, and put out advice recommending Pfizer as the preferred vaccine for everyone under 60 (putting it simply, as this age changed several times). Since Pfizer is not manufactured locally, this set back the entire vaccine roll-out, and put us at the mercy of Pfizer global supply (of which we already had more than enough contracts, but had to wait for fulfilment).

grecy 5y ago
The Prime Minster saying "we're not in a race to get vaccinated, there's no rush" was also a major contributing factor. He specifically said there would never be drive-thru vaccine sites, no "mass vaccination" centres, etc. etc. He honestly thought a head in the sand approach would be best, and now over half of Australia's population are in a strict lockdown (can't go more than 5km from home) because of his uselessness.
- chii 5y ago
  yep. incompetence at all levels of government - and i'm not just blaming one person like the prime minister. The leaks that led to the lockdowns came from hotel quarantines - which was known to be inadequate, and was always meant to be temporary. But the construction of a specialized facility was not prioritized, leading to two more waves after the first that costed way more than any quarantine facility would've costed had they expediently built one.
  - jimmydorry 5y ago
    It’s true that specialised quarantines would probably prevent leaks, however this is more of a “feel good” initiative than a substantial solution. Do you really envision a future where all travelers will quarantine at their destination, even if only in Aus? If not, that already puts a cap on the long term usefulness of what is essentially an infrastructure program. Casting our minds back to last year, we were obviously all too naive in thinking this would end sooner. Some states already getting raked over the coals for lax handling of the hotel quarantines, which government would be willing to take the blame splurging on facilities that may end up going to waste during their term in power? Yes, such facilities would have let us kick the can down the road long enough for a higher rate of vaccination. Taking on that risk was far from an easy call without hindsight though. I’m also not aware of any country making such facilities, which is also telling. The better measure, in my opinion at least, would have been upgrading all hotel ventilation systems to a set standard based on the literature at hand, and for all rooms to be negatively pressurised. Coordination of people in and out of the hotel could also be massively improved.
- jimmydorry 5y ago
  The Prime Minister has to steady the ship and act as a calming influence, even when shit hits the fan. Were you really expecting him to say that it was indeed a race against the clock but that people would need to wait until the pfizer doses were shipped? The doses were bought, and a rollout planned… and then amended when the side-effects of AZ outweighed the risk of contracting covid while local cases were less than 300. I don’t see political spin being a “major contributing factor” when the work has been done, and doses secured. It certainly makes for low hanging fruit though from the detractors that don’t have solutions.

grecy 5y ago

The Prime Minster saying "we're not in a race to get vaccinated, there's no rush" was also a major contributing factor. He specifically said there would never be drive-thru vaccine sites, no "mass vaccination" centres, etc. etc. He honestly thought a head in the sand approach would be best, and now over half of Australia's population are in a strict lockdown (can't go more than 5km from home) because of his uselessness.

chii 5y ago
yep. incompetence at all levels of government - and i'm not just blaming one person like the prime minister. The leaks that led to the lockdowns came from hotel quarantines - which was known to be inadequate, and was always meant to be temporary. But the construction of a specialized facility was not prioritized, leading to two more waves after the first that costed way more than any quarantine facility would've costed had they expediently built one.
- jimmydorry 5y ago
  It’s true that specialised quarantines would probably prevent leaks, however this is more of a “feel good” initiative than a substantial solution. Do you really envision a future where all travelers will quarantine at their destination, even if only in Aus? If not, that already puts a cap on the long term usefulness of what is essentially an infrastructure program. Casting our minds back to last year, we were obviously all too naive in thinking this would end sooner. Some states already getting raked over the coals for lax handling of the hotel quarantines, which government would be willing to take the blame splurging on facilities that may end up going to waste during their term in power? Yes, such facilities would have let us kick the can down the road long enough for a higher rate of vaccination. Taking on that risk was far from an easy call without hindsight though. I’m also not aware of any country making such facilities, which is also telling. The better measure, in my opinion at least, would have been upgrading all hotel ventilation systems to a set standard based on the literature at hand, and for all rooms to be negatively pressurised. Coordination of people in and out of the hotel could also be massively improved.
jimmydorry 5y ago
The Prime Minister has to steady the ship and act as a calming influence, even when shit hits the fan. Were you really expecting him to say that it was indeed a race against the clock but that people would need to wait until the pfizer doses were shipped? The doses were bought, and a rollout planned… and then amended when the side-effects of AZ outweighed the risk of contracting covid while local cases were less than 300. I don’t see political spin being a “major contributing factor” when the work has been done, and doses secured. It certainly makes for low hanging fruit though from the detractors that don’t have solutions.