Epidemiologists are urging Australians over the age of 50 not to wait for alternatives to the AstraZeneca vaccine, warning of a “false sense of security” about the risks still posed by COVID-19.
Professor Catherine Bennett from Deakin University said she was concerned by case numbers in countries like Thailand and Singapore, which had earlier successes in limiting the spread of the virus. “People need to see these other countries as a warning that this could happen in Australia, we know how to contain the virus but at the same time we can’t guarantee that we won’t have an episode where it does start to take off in the community,” she said. “And the best thing we can all do to prevent against that or prevent that from becoming a wave in Australia is to get vaccinated.”
“It’s important that people understand that it’s kind of a false sense of security that we can keep the virus out indefinitely and that we have this luxury of time,” she said. “The most important thing we can do is get as many people vaccinated as we can so that should the virus get into the community we are still able to contain it.”
We disagree with the premise and suggest that in a choice between
- waiting 6 months for a safer vaccine, being prepared to take more restrictive measures for local reelimination as required until then, and
- rushing full steam ahead for what the evidence indicates is a less effective, less safe vaccine so that in that 6 months we can still spread disease to under-16s and not kill them but expose them to high risks of chronic disease
then aside from the selfish considerations making the first option better, the less selfish option remains the first anyway.
It’s important that people understand that it’s a true sense of security that we can keep the virus out if we manage quarantine well (remember other pest introductions or lack thereof) and therefore we have this luxury of time. The most important thing we can do is get as many people vaccinated with effective and safe vaccines as we can. Should the virus get into the community we are already able to contain it, and vaccines will help, but old fashioned test trace isolate still works fine, and will be able to prevent lockdown if done well.
Here’s Singapore https://covidsitrep.moh.gov.sg/.
Thailand not so good but kind of expected, and apparently it’s a similar situation to the Singapore issue previously (mass accommodation).
We don’t think the explaining difference there is vaccination, just saying.
Remember: in Australian states, at the Singapore level of shit, a week of holiday followed by effective testing tracing isolating has by now demonstrated success. At the Thailand level of shit, then no, you want to jump on things before it gets that way. Indeed, we’ve done so well that
the Corruption Coal Crowd have waved their hands and pretended they were there all along, and now your ABCrazyCommunistCorporation are squealing for rush rush vaccine rush rush open just to be against them. (Genius reverse psychology trick there by Team Marketing, funny they didn’t think of it before.) Fuck it. Stick to the SCIENCE, not the partisan ideology.
In case anyone missed it, we repeat: throwing everything open, ultimately, should be based very little on what we have done here, and far more on what is happening elsewhere.