To clean that saying up, let’s just say the Australian government “couldn’t organise a beer in a brewery” when it comes to Covid vaccine distribution.
About 4 million Australians were to be vaccinated by the end of March. By this Wednesday, about 312,502 doses had been administered.
The government has shifted from promising all Australians would be vaccinated by October, to saying everyone would receive their first dose by October.
There is no doubt that the vaccine rollout is one of the most complex, logistically challenging undertakings that has faced the Australian government.
And yes, it has been complicated further still by factors outside of the government’s control. International supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been restricted by the European Union, which has blocked hundreds of thousands of doses reaching Australia.
But GPs across the country, already fatigued from the strain placed on them during the pandemic, have seethed with frustration in the past two weeks, as the government moved to the second stage of its vaccine rollout, phase 1b.
That frustration began last Wednesday, when the government blindsided many GPs by publicly telling Australians to flock to a new government website, which checked their eligibility for the vaccine and then linked roughly 6 million eligible patients with about 1,000 GP clinics currently activated to distribute the vaccine.
Naturally, GPs were immediately inundated with calls.
But with no vaccine supply to speak of, most simply could not book patients in.
Shipments were promised last week, before the start of phase 1b on Monday,
Some simply didn’t show up.
In some cases, vaccines were showing up, but needles and disposal containers were not.
Granted there is less urgency in Australia than in other nations as we seemingly have the Covid situation under control.
Yet that is the very reason the government has repeatedly said that Australia has had time to plan its rollout, and conduct it carefully and with efficiency.
That time afforded to Australia allowed it to set targets that now seem laughable.
The nation is now dependent on local manufacturing of the AstraZeneca vaccine through CSL, which began releasing 830,000 doses for use last Tuesday.
Us phase 1b people live in hope.
Source:Guardian Australia
Update: 30th March
My first shot is due next week!!
Update: 12th April
In the broader picture, the brown stuff has hit the whirly thing with a case of blood clotting in a younger recipient of the AZ vaccine in Melbourne.
This reaction has been noted in a number of cases overseas and has proved fatal in a few.
Granted the figures are very very low but it has caused some re thinking here.
The government has decided that AZ should only be given to the +50 population although this is not mandatory. It comes down to personal choice.
Given there are virtually no replacement vaccines available, the rollout has been thrown into disarray.
Of course the government spin machine is working overtime.
The ‘everyone totally vaccinated by October’ boast was abandoned with the new message ‘all Australians will have a dose by the end of the year’ only to be quickly replaced by ‘we have not set, nor have any plans to set any new targets for completing first doses’.
Forty million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are supposedly in the pipeline. But who knows when/if they will arrive.
It seems it will be well into 2022 until the country is totally vaccinated.
No wonder plans for an early federal election have been put on the back burner.
People aren’t happy!
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