I live in a place that has been held up (together with New Zealand) as the shining light of effective infection control.
About four weeks ago, a driver who ferried three or four air crew from the airport to their quarantine hotel ended up getting infected by one of the air crew. The driver was not vaccinated (yes, really), nor was there any requirement for him to be vaccinated (yes, really, really).
Now, about a month later, about one half of Australia's population is under lock-down because one person was all it took to spread the virus into the community. It does not help that the delta variant is far more infectious than any of the variants that preceded it. People have managed to infect someone else within 36 hours of getting infected themselves. That doesn't leave our contact tracers much of a chance
Moreover, as of now, about 13% of the Australian population has had two doses of a vaccine. Yes, you read that right: 13%. And about one third of the population has had one shot. Never mind that that many other first-world countries can boast of vaccination rates of 50% and more.
@Michi, you're not wrong...
One thing that non-Australia readers are almost certainly not aware of is the fact that Australia actually
does have a sufficient supply of vaccines. But there is nuance to that....
At the beginning of the pandemic our Government didn't diversify their supply chain. They opted for an Australian manufacturing approach. On face value this approach sounds good... it lowers supply risk and develops local expertise and knowledge. Unfortunately the plan fell apart. The Australian UQ-CSL vaccine disappeared into the night as it induced
false-positive HIV results. The
TGA approved CSL to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine in Melbourne in march. The government filled a 50 million dose order and output was expected to be one million doses per week.
Another blow.
In April, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) advised the Government that the AstraZeneca vaccine only be used on people over 50. This was due to evidence of a
very low-risk of serious complications (clotting) from the vaccine.
Later in June, ATAGI revised their advice and recommended AstraZeneca for people over 60. In both cases the Pfizer vaccine was recommended as the preferred option for those under the age threshold. The Government elected to follow ATAGI's advice on both occasions. After betting on other options, Australia was late to place an order for Pfizer - leading to a chronic shortage.
This puts Australia in a strange position where we have a sufficient supply of vaccines (AstraZeneca) - yet a
shortage of the preferred vaccine (Pfizer). While much can be said about Australia's vaccine rollout, the situation appeared to 'work' until recently. We could claim that our tough stance on border movements and quarantine kept our population safe. Given these 'safe' conditions, we could reason that the risks of AstraZeneca outweighed the benefits. We would wait our turn for a large shipment of Pfizer. In retrospect we are all brilliant... it turns out the Delta strain provided a good reason to revisit previous assumptions.
The prevailing attitude to AstraZeneca in Australia is regrettable. In reality it is a modern miracle - a wonder. In the absence of any other vaccine options, a significant portion of our population would be vaccinated right now. It is not easy to do the social calculus on benefits or harm of various options - both on health and living standards. I don't envy anyone in that situation. But dare I say it, we were willing to be vaccine snobs before June. The ugly tit-for-tat amongst the Federal Government, State Governments and advisory bodies we are now seeing is perhaps a public renegotiation of that position.
In practice what does this mean? Currently we are in a phase that is vaccinating
>=40 year olds (including frontline staff, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and disabled people). This is done through a sparse network of clinics. Again Pfizer is preferred for under 50's. It is practically impossible for people younger than 40 to get a Pfizer dose. If they want a vaccine they will have to speak to their GP and ask for an AstraZeneca dose. But GPs have had unpredictable quantities of the vaccine and may not be willing to practice against the advisory body's advice (ATAGI). The situation is complex and the messaging has been clear as mud. This has not helped doctors or patients...