There’s been a lot of talk about this vaccine being “rushed”, which has led some to believe it is not safe. Experts have said even though the process of development was expedited this vaccine had gone through just as much of a rigorous approval as any other vaccine.

Much of the genetic work had already been done on the similar SARS and MERS viruses. The genome of Covid was sequenced very quickly. An unbelievable amount of funding has been put into the development process. Many of the trial processes were expedited. Not “rushed”, but administrative delays were reduced. Just like pilots can expedite a turnaround but still do everything required for safety, so can vaccine researchers if they need to. No corners have been cut.

Here’s some articles from people who would know, various Professors of Immunology and Directors of Vaccine Research:

Less than a year to develop a COVID vaccine – here’s why you shouldn’t be alarmed

Oxford vaccine: How did they make it so quickly?

Last I checked WA is doing pretty well. A lot of pilots over there never stopped flying too.

Stunning job Mark, congratulations to you.

The flying didn’t stop because of the INTRAstate routes. More luck for those pilots than anything. Same with QLD.

Pffft! What would they know? Anyway, they are probably just shills for Big Pharma.

To counteract your so-called 'experts', I could post a link to a YouTube video from some dude called Kevin from Byron Bay,
he doesn't give his qualifications, but he's definitely a smart guy cos the video echoes exactly my 'gut feeling' about this whole Corona bs, - and he's not a shill for anybody because he's on the DSP with a nice side gig selling Tofu sandwiches at the Farmer's market .

So my message to you is; ignore these experts, do your own resurch!

What he said.

Plenty of intrastate routes in NSW and Vic that are at a stand still.

As unlikely as it would be, if China decides to put tariffs on iron ore, WA will need every single cent from the east coast that it could get its hand on.

If that happens the whole country is f***ed

The truth is China NEEDS the ore - their other options from South America and South Africa are stuffed. Africa, the logistics mechanism does not work (corruption and infrastructure issues rampant) and Peru is halted by virtue of the dam collapse. If the ore stops, then China's growth is impacted massively.
Part of me actually wishes that WA puts a tariff on ore going to China - play them at their own game.

So guessing WA will close to NSW tomorrow

He must be frothing at the mouth to announce it!

Open all of 8 days and I reckon it's going to close 9 days before Christmas. Yep, this on-again/off-again response is going swimmingly!

If Mark McGoose want's to play silly buggers, Gladys should take a leaf from his play book and ban everyone crossing the International border into NSW and see how the states react. If they don't want NSW residents crossing their borders, well, two can play that game.

If WA close the Border Qantas and Virgin should just ground all flights for 48 hours. Pressure from the mine sites would have the Borders open within 3 hours.

Im sure this open/shut business has cost QF as much as the industrial issues they had the last time they grounded everything.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-...ntine/12989508

For those who haven’t heard, the current ‘community spread’ cases in Sydney originated from a minibus driver transporting aircrew to their accommodation.

To reduce the risk posed by aircrews, the suggestion from at least one epidemiologist, is for the ADF or Police to take over crew transfers.

Would be interesting to know if the driver was wearing a mask & also if this was his only job or 1 of many.
We in melbourne hated having to wear masks but after enduring a few months of it it now feels half normal & rightly or wrongly gives a feeling of protecting oneself.
All of us australia wide need to keep this virus out of our lives.

"To reduce the risk posed by aircrews, the suggestion from at least one epidemiologist, is for the ADF or Police to take over crew transfers."

Would that really reduce the risk? Maybe have the driver in full PPE might reduce the risk, but ADF or police are not immune to catching this cold.

The biggest "risk" facing Australia are politicians and bureaucrats playing power games for their own self interest.

They did not, the 60 and 70- yr old have never met the driver, the driver is a separate issue altogether. These two could potentially be super spreaders the amount of places they visited in Sydney and Avalon. it will be interesting to find out how they contracted it.

They are supplimenting the reduction in iron ore with an large increase in a scrap. They are taking all the addtional scap iron from the ship breakers running at absolute max capacity, theres a pretty large backlog of ships waiting to be scrapped. This is of course only a short term option and only covers a small percentage of the ore shipped from australia. The other rumor on the finance side is saying straight up the chinese economy cant afford to pay for all the incoming resources and is a bit of a house of cards atm.

The ABC article raises the very good point of our international aircrews possibly being our weakest link, and should the current accommodation/isolation be looked at.

Personally I think it SHOULD have been beefed up when we had so long without community transmission that our borders could open.

It must be australian international crews because foreign crew are quarantined in hotels till their flight out. Blanco Liro blogged his time in sydney quarantine during his 24 layover in sydney