Between the USA , Israel and the UK they’re are leading the OECD in vaccination rates by a country mile. Stop looking back but look forward. We did a great job in controlling the pandemic, except for the Victorian episode, which could have happened anywhere in Australia. Lots of luck. But the cold hard fact remains that whilst we dither and pat our own backs, tourism, education, aviation and trade will suffer. We are good at saying no but not much else.
This whole saga reminds me of our aviation environment. Over regulated, pedantic,bureaucratic self serving nonsense. Flying in the USA is enjoyable. Arriving back in Australian airspace takes the fun out of it. Being chipped for not reading back verbatim a clearance to hold short of a runway holding point is so typically Australian. God we carry on with so much crap in this country. The land of government and bureaucracy.

“Had we secured more of the leading candidates last year and not insisted on duplicating the approval processes already completed overseas – naively asserting our regulatory superiority over Britain, EU, and US – we could have begun vaccinating by Christmas. But what can we do now?”
Quoted from SMH article
Steven Hamilton is Assistant Professor of Economics at George Washington University and Richard Holden is Professor of Economics at UNSW.
The parallels to aviation are obvious.

Couldn’t agree more. Well said.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/cor...lion-c-2620816

Can’t see much political will to open the borders anytime soon. And with transmission in NSW HQ today, .......?????

No leak into the community...yet...and all HQ workers either fully or partially vaccinated.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....128e2a18c2.jpg

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-...avel/100077086

I think a lot of people don;t quite understand what a vaccines "efficay" really means.

This should explain it.

Fantastic explanation.
This screen shot says it all.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....be391cb042.png

So vaccinated HQ workers are allowed to go home without quarantine, yet fully vaccinated crews with vaccines approved by the Australian Government are handed detention notices and locked up? As an Australian I find that utterly shameful.

Fuel-Off :ok:

Does anyone NOT see the problem of counterfeit vaccination certificates? We cannot open the boarders until that problem is solved.

Its already a problem, more specifically doctors certificates that you are covid free have been available within hours of them being needed. While afik no country has issued paper or electronic vacination certificates soon a real copy can be aquired there will absolutely be fakes available to buy

Agree with the hypocrisy here. I’ve been very critical about HQ workers and other Covid ward workers being able to mix in the community without restrictions while international airline crew are not able to leave home. When an ‘outbreak’ eventually occurs, it’s the airline crew that once again suffer. I’ve written to the media and my local MP about this but it seems as though no one really cares.

Again there is no clarity from him,i am over 50 & will gladly get the jab but i havent seen or heard anything about how i get it.
As usual,he makes statements to make himself look good whilst attending photo shoot opportunities & ignoring what he should be concentrating on.

Correct on all fronts.
All proclaimed in the same speech where he affirmed that there has been "no change in the program".
Unless he was talking about persons with underlying health problems or essential workers over 50? But who knows what he was on about.

Over 50's (the herd) are in phase 2.

Always thought best way to look at a problem with multiple facets was to break it down.

Departures is not the problem, couple of million piss off would be OK for Oz BUT with no guarantee or immediate expectation of return date/criteria/requirements as that's the work in progress.
All fares are inflated a tad to assume minimal loads into Oz until things sorted.

The hospitality/tourism sector would need some sort of ongoing support until the widest possible opening of inbounds ie tourists can be allowed.

Added bonus of shutting up the 50% or so who are bitching about not being able to depart.

Vaccine Efficacy. What it really means.
From the CDC.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....38ab48605.jpeg
A statement that was found from the ABC COVID site which was most interesting.

Why vaccine efficacy and effectiveness are not the same thing.As David Spiegelhalter, the chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University, and Anthony Masters, a statistical ambassador for the Royal Statistical Society, outlined in The Guardian, a 90 per cent efficacy rate does not mean an individual has a 10 per cent chance of contracting COVID-19.

"Imagine 100 people are ill with COVID-19," the experts explained. "‘Ninety per cent efficacy' means if only they'd had the vaccine, on average only 10 would have got ill.

"Vaccine efficacy is the relative reduction in the risk: whatever your risk was before, it is reduced by 90 per cent if you get vaccinated. There is a lot of confusion about this number: it does not mean there is a 10 per cent chance of getting COVID-19 if vaccinated — that chance will be massively lower than 10 per cent."

Ha, what I said a few months back.
The day after there’s agreement on a format for a globally acceptable vax passport, you’ll be able to buy one in Shenzhen for a couple of hundred Yuan.

There's not going to be a meaningful international standard because the WHO oppose having travel being subject to vaccination status!

The UN adopted a list of basic human rights that they have to adhere to. One of these is the “right of free movement” despite the fact that borders and restrictions are not under the purview of the UN, and no one has ever enjoyed this fictional right.

We have passports, visas, UN recognised vaccine certification already, but for this the WHO wants to play idealogical games.

Lets hope the WHO win their “idealogical game”

https://www.news.com.au/national/bre...965054af642211

Who is going to blink first?

And still delaying quarantine
 

Why? Do you want people to be able to travel here without proof of vaccination?

Yes I do!! I want to travel to Australia as an Australian citizen who has the freedom to choose to receive a vaccination or not!!

You're probably going to be disappointed. Proof of vaccination will be required for entry of non-citizens for most western countries. For citizens such as yourself, you will probably have to come home via the 14 day quarantine process. $3500 is an expensive cost to pushback on a vaccine but then again anti-vaxxers are not logical people anyway.

I really wish they’d hurry up and announce some kind of vaccination carrot in this country. Start announcing some privileges for the vaccinated that will come in to effect once the vulnerable populous has been vaccinated. Home quarantine until a negative test received for example instead of hotel quarantine.

I realise a lot of people want to get vaccinated but can’t at the moment, but the over 50s showing hesitancy could use a bit of motivating.

Swift kick up the arse should motivate. Vaccination proof is not new. Maybe the kids don't know about small pox, cholera, typhoid, yellow fever vaccinations and the yellow vaccination card without which international travel could not happen.

The problem is how to verify those certificates. As an example from the BBC "about 100 people are trying to enter England each day with a fake negative Covid certificate. Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration Services Union, which represents UK border and customs staff, told the All Party Parliamentary group on coronavirus that the documents are "very easy" to forge." Asked how many fakes could be slipping through the net, Ms Moreton said it is "inherently unknowable", adding that a lot of border and quarantine controls are based on "trust".

Also not all vaccines are created equal - just look at Chile. Which ones do we accept - which ones do we not?

If WE are all vaccinated, I don’t think it matters.

Victoria funding pfizer manufacturing in oz

It still amazes me the number of people lining up to get a vaccine that is approved for emergency use only. No long term effects are known about any of these vaccines. Nobody cares. Just listen to the politicians dangling the travel carrot promising no quarantine to the next bubble....Singapore.. Japan....here we come.

The vaccines in use in this country are not emergency approved.

The vaccines are fully approved.

Don’t use facts with anti vaxxers, you have better things to do with your life.

Yeah...but its the same vaccine used in other countries. No long term or even short term studies beyond 3 months. And you really believe it's gone through the full approval. Just saying people need to be aware there may be long-term health effects.
Im no anti-vaccer. I've had vaccines in the past that were actually tested and I'm confident in.

Polio vaccine developed 1953, widespread use in 1955. So over 60 years ago 2 years was long enough to develop a vaccine. But now with all the new technology at hand 1 year isn't enough?

Many governments have been openly skeptical about the Russian and Chinese COVID vaccines, so how does that play with a "Vax Passport" plan and the many nations using them? The testing data is kept secret.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-...nes-/100026036

Maybe you have to receive an approved vaccine to get one?

To me, no it isn't.

The KRviatrix and I are both fully immunised so much as can be, as are the rugrats, however, we both have reservations about the speed with which these vaccines have been developed, "approved" and rolled out. They may ultimately be proven to be unfounded reservations, but to me, it seems like we are grasping at anything that will get us back to pre-covid times and to hell with the long-term risks. There was no suggestion of blood clots with the AZ vaccine until Norway & Denmark stopped administering it. What other hidden gems might appear down the track? I accept the risk of contracting Covid and manage that risk myself, rather than having it managed for me by companies & governments with a pecuniary interest in having me get the vaccination.

History is littered with examples of "It seemed like a good idea at the time!"

You may have your conviction tested.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp....21-p57l37.html

We administer drugs and vaccines all the time that have risks attached to them, much higher than these new vaccines. The contraceptive pill for example, a ****load higher risk of developing blood clots than the AZ vaccine.

People need some perspective and trust in the medical science that has got us this far in history.

The fear and scepticism of these Covid vaccines is largely media driven.