Here’s the latest ABC News articles on the AZ rollout decision, for the most part I say their reporting is straightforward, emotionless and rational. Wouldn’t expect anything less.
If you want emotion and fear try the Daily Mail or similar where they randomly CAPITALISE words to evoke a REACTION in their readers.
As far as this decision goes yes it is a setback, but there are some positive points to remember. First off the AZ vaccine is still being administered to the critical group, over 50s. Whether or not over 50s now wish to take AZ is debatable, however I believe a majority will follow the advice of their GP over tabloid media. Most Australians have a lot of respect for the advice given by their trusted GP. The use of Pfizer or Novavax for under 50s will take longer, but they’re not as critical and weren’t going to be eligible for a few months anyway. Although Australia has ordered more Pfizer than originally planned it won’t arrive until later in the year. Will the October goal still be reached? Possibly, but more probably not. It shouldn’t delay the overall timeline by more than a few months I’d imagine.
You can monitor Australia’s administered vaccine doses
here (thanks ABC!), there’s some differences in daily reported numbers due to reporting methods of each jurisdiction, so look at the moving average. It has been trending down over the last few days but that would probably be more to the Easter long weekend. If there’s any significant drop off in AZ uptake it’ll be observed in the upcoming weeks.
It’s obvious the Federal government shouldn’t have put all the eggs in the AZ basket and should’ve been more flexible with options. They can’t say
they weren’t warned.....