Covid Pfizer vaccine approved for use next week in UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55145696

Good news on the horizon!

Vaccine can’t come quick enough. International arrivals are a ticking time bomb for the country. I’d vote for stopping all arrivals but you can’t do that I guess.

...and the virus again may be in the wild following yet another quarantine hotel worker found positive, this time in Sydney. I reckon every international arrival has probably cost the country on average about $50 million in lost economic activity. Each.

Must be those private security guards

this time a HQ cleaner who was working at multiple hotels (both HQ and non HQ)
SA was HQ security who were working second jobs at a pizza restaurant
Vic wasn’t it HQ security who were Uber delivery drivers on the side?

if we’re spending hundreds of millions on hotel quarantine surely we can pay the workers enough in danger money so that they don’t need second/third/fourth jobs

Or why don’t we just do the thing that should’ve happened after the Victorian outbreak, definitely should have happened after the Adelaide outbreak and if we’re not doing it after this one we’re certifiably insane and our nation’s leaders are brain dead:

Quarantine all international arrivals in remote locations. Desert camps, military bases, offshore islands. Where workers at those facilities are not risking unintentionally becoming super spreaders in crowded cities on their days off as the ones who’ve accidentally become superspreaders after CBD hotel quarantine have.

It’s getting ridiculous now. It’s time for our country’s leaders to step up and act.

I agree to that.

Seperate camps for say up to 200 arrivals, well paid staff work the same 2 weeks as the Quarantined arrivals, everyone tested regularly, and final test at end of the 2 week period.
Then everyone heads home.
2 weeks later that crew of workers return to same camp,bit like FIFO, and process is repeated with a new group of overseas arrivals.

WA premier McGowan straight on the blower weighing up the one case in NSW. CHC monitoring like a hawk standing bye waiting on the process.
I bet if their is one more case or 2 the border will close again. Open close open close, really great for Christmas bookings.
Gladys just hide this one under the carpet don't tell him.

Some of these comments in regards to repatriations are fairly out there!

Not sure why they don’t ramp up Howard Springs to its full 3500 bed potential, that would certainly help clear the backlog of 50,000 trying to get home.

Hotel quarantine should work, the problem is the lack of discipline in some places. Don’t forget in most places aircrew still get to hotel quarantine for a night when operating through and requiring rest. Like the Canadians it is only as strong as the weakest link.

The problem Straya has is a lack of accountability when fook ups are made. Jail and serious fines and actually enforcing them are the only way to make people be accountable.

As for treating nationals like asylum seekers which is basically what some are suggesting is just not on.

Quarantine cruise ships, that's what we need (joke). In all seriousness, there are thousands of FIFO workers who put up with these conditions, why not returning travelers?

What about Rottnest / Hamilton Island etc? We used to have purpose built quarantine stations situated away from the "Towns" , the government has had months to come up with a better system.....it just seems the risk far far outweighs the cost of building a better system?

Yep that’s why I’m so pro using Howard Springs to its full potential. I don’t think QLD tourism would be too happy using a resort island! Logistically Christmas Island would cost a huge amount as not bug enough for wide bodies so looking a shuttles. Oh then again Singapore or Kuala Lumpur in narrow bodies would work.

I don’t think many wanting to get home would actually care where or how, they just want to get home. Howard Springs is actually a jack pot in my opinion, outside time, pool time, etc! Much better than stuck in a 5 star hotel room with no opening windows.

Don't forget - according to Mark McGoose, if he doesn't like what is happening in NSW there goes Victoria too. The asreclown has openly stated they'll treat both states as a single entity due to our shared border towns, etc.How TF can anyone believe this is a reasonable - and appropriate - way to manage a pandemic response?

Can't say I've heard much bleating about 'Keeping us safe' from QLD since the election....

Tasmania. :E

Why don't we just make returning Australians pay to make a giant quarantine centre in the middle of WA. We can also make foreign airlines go by Alice Springs first to drop all those dirty CoVID infected citizens off and then load them on charter flights that returned citizens pay for as well.

You know it's their fault, they should have come home sooner.
50 thousand dollars per person should be a reasonable charge. Half up front and half a loan from CBA. Can't have any Govt footing the bill for anything.

We can also publish their names and photos on the abc website (to shame them) so we can accuse them of putting ordinary Australians live in danger by their selfishness.

For those who thought that post was serious shame on you.

Hamilton island would be a logical choice, its got its own airport, close to townsville which is a close has a large regional hospital also has a large army base with aviation and a land craft based there. That said not sure the owner would want reputation the island could gain if turned into a 'plague island'

Love it, please post this in mainstream media to catch a whale!

No other government has abandoned its citizens like Australia has. It’s a disgrace. Now we have international students able to enter ahead of passport holders.

I don’t understand it too, there are many other countries that are smaller, much more densely populated, can find avenues to have ample dedicated quarantine facilities for returning citizens. There’s so much land and space in Australia, surely more could be done?

You would probably want the quarantine facilities near airports than can accept widebodies for direct international services. Less need for connecting internal flights. I'm thinking Curtin, Scherger, Alice Springs, quite a few of the FIFO ports (if any can be temporarily spared for quarantine use), Woomera, Rockhampton. Christmas Island could be an option although it could be a bit tight for some widebodies.

Far more can be done, it's just that no one wants to. More interested in arguing with each other and playing the blame game.

This situation will still be ongoing for at least a year, until vaccine uptake is widespread enough to dispense with mandatory 2 week quarantine.

Don’t think the vaccine is going to solve much to begin with. The vaccine prevents the disease not the infection. So one can in theory carry the virus and spread it even if immune.

given the amount of quarantine and nasal scrapes of young and healthy citizens vaccine may not stop governments wanting to continue this trend.

The only hope is governments can use the vaccine to get themselves out of this mess where they have scared the population into submission.

Yep wide-body airports make sense -

Hence why HS popular. The crazy thing is there are a few other ex workers villages in the area that could be utilised that aren’t, there is even one at the airport I’m told.

Anything around Wellcamp? Townsville?

The only problem here is we are talking common sense so it won’t happen.

Lets face it, it took 5 months for the government to actually get proactive and crank up Qantas charters.

Oh also, not only student but fruit pickers first, another plane load snuck into Brisbane the other day barely noticed at all!

With enough vaccinated, it’s a moot point, isn’t it?

It seems the latest infection of a hotel worked in Sydney came from Self Isolating US based air crew......why are these crew not in the same hotels as returned travelers.....seems a big risk?

Vaccines get the bodies immune system ready to fight off the infection the second it hits the body, instead of unvaccinated infection which allows the virus to get a foothold over several days before the bodies immune system creates antibodies to fight it off. So whilst the virus may technically infect the body, the sickness is less severe or non existent. Less severe or non existent symptoms means less likelihood of virus spread in the community, and eventually if a critical mass of vaccinations is reached (herd immunity), the pandemic ceases as there's nowhere for the virus to go.

Friends of mine who fly into Australia said they stayed at quarantine hotels. How exactly did a hotel staff member get close enough to a person to catch it?

so what is the benchmark for vaccines, are kids and young people with almost zero chance of dying from this going to be forced to have Jab, or just everyone over 50/60? None of this has been discussed so I don’t see borders opening soon after a vaccine is made available but I hope I’m wrong.

Everyone is vaccinated, inc kids, healthy people, younger people and those under 60, as their mass vaccination aids in gaining herd immunity in the population which stops it spreading to the yet to be vaccinated vulnerable populations like over 60s and those with pre existing conditions.

Yeah, nah. I won't be getting it, and neither will the kidlets.

I'm certainly not an anti-vaxxer, I'm all for standard vaccinations and the entire family is as up to date as we can be, but, both the KRviatrix and I have concerns about the speed with which these vaccines have progressed from development, through testing to distribution. I get that part of it is because there are so many companies etc collaborating on development & testing, but I'll wait a bit longer until I roll up the sleeves. History is littered with examples of "It was a good idea at the time..."

And if your employer has a no jab no work policy? What then?

It will be interesting if anyone can actually enforce staff to take a vaccination against their own wishes. The next question will be is the employer then liable if there is some unintended side affect from the 'mandatory' vaccination. It would be pretty ironic if there was to be some issue then a percentage of your workforce lose their medicals as a result.

There are also different versions of the vaccine so it all depends on which one is in Australia. Some are the more traditional versions with weak strains of the virus whilst others add to your DNA to help combat Covid-19

You would imagine those in the highest risk demographic, followed by whoever wants it - like every other vaccine?
Travelling OS will be a different matter as I’d say most countries will require vaccination - just like we all used to do years ago. Nothing really knew here in regards to expectations I believe.

I’m not injecting my kids with a vaccine that isn’t required. Covid19 will burn out on its own accord

Hard to see how surprise side effects might pop up that are worse than the virus. There are plenty of bad things that can happen to someone other than dying. A lot of less than old people have had very unpleasant experiences with this virus. The shortness of breath apparently gets bad enough that you think you’ll die even if your O2 is still good. Sounds traumatic.

Love to see polls of people who’ve had it and see whether they wish they had a vaccine and its associated risk.

+1 Joker.....

I had it about 2 months ago. Woke up with a sore throat for 4 days. Bit of a cough at night. Cup of tea in the morning and I was good to go. I couldn't believe that was the reason I went from flying a plane to delivering pizzas :cool:
I didn't even think of going for a test, except work required it. Makes you wonder how many people would test positive and what the survival rate would then look like.

Hello, Defence force calling... There are mandatory vacations that are required or you’re kicked out. I have no doubt the COVID vaccine will mandatory. If the ADF can do it then maybe other employers can?

The ADF aren't a normal employer, you sign away everything when you join up.