Australia loosing their minds at being offered the Oxford Vaccine..

[MoirasRoses]

I’ve just been pottering through Twitter & came across a trending thread re-Australia mostly buying the Oxford vaccine. They are losing their minds at being offered the less effective vaccine & accusing the government of wanting to ‘kill them’ & being corrupt & pals with Trump (no idea what he’s got to do with a vaccine from the UK).

Why this major over reaction? Compared to the much more positive & hopeful reaction here? I thought more recently data showed Oxford to be 90% if given 12 weeks apart? And even if only 60%, more than good enough? I was reading an article where a couple doctors were saying almost 100% of people did not need hospital treatment or became seriously ill after one dose. That’s incredible..

Australia's official stance is suppression.

@MoirasRoses

I’ve just been pottering through Twitter & came across a trending thread re-Australia mostly buying the Oxford vaccine. They are losing their minds at being offered the less effective vaccine & accusing the government of wanting to ‘kill them’ & being corrupt & pals with Trump (no idea what he’s got to do with a vaccine from the UK).

Why this major over reaction? Compared to the much more positive & hopeful reaction here? I thought more recently data showed Oxford to be 90% if given 12 weeks apart? And even if only 60%, more than good enough? I was reading an article where a couple doctors were saying almost 100% of people did not need hospital treatment or became seriously ill after one dose. That’s incredible..

Are you even in Australia?

If not, so fucking what?

The suppression (Oz) and elimination (NZ) are strategies to get the countries through until vaccines or treatments became available. I don't think anyone expects them to never open up again.
NZ has been doing huge work at the Auckland airport to facilitate separation of flights from red or green zones so they are working towards the future it's just that this is novel situation for everyone.

Yeah. 'Australia is not losing its mind' about the Oxford Vaccine.

Some dopes on Twitter over reacting does not a majority opinion make.

I am good with any/either/both.

Even if we go with Pfizer in the hospitals for the vulnerable and the Oxford more widely that sounds like a pretty good plan.

I don't think there is any reason not to re-vaccinate with a different one later if it turns out that would be better.

We are pretty keen on vaccines here on the whole so I have faith that most/enough people will get vaccinated when the time comes.

I’m also in Australia, there has been zero mention here about what vaccine we will get. I saw on the news that it will be rolled out next month, but I think I might get one by the end of the year. All my UK friends are becoming increasingly worried about family back home and if/when we will see them again.

I bet like everywhere the Aussies will take whatever vaccine they are offered like the rest of the World. What’s the expression, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good or don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. I’m sure Australia has its own similar expressions. Not that I am saying Pfizer is perfect and Oxford is just good. If anything for large parts of Australia it might actually be the opposite? No point getting a load of Pfizer somewhere and it has spoiled in route.

Do people not read the protocols in the trials for assessing which participants actually contracted covid? In some trials they tested participants who fell ill - but in the AZ-Oxford trial, every participant was tested. So of course they had more people infected if they tested everyone, compared with testing only symptomatic people? Its so frustrating.

Oxford is inferior which unfortunately we’ll probably learn to our detriment in a few months when it proves to be less useful than the others. Never mind it’s BRITISH after all 🙄

I would just like to point out that we have planes and freezers and all sorts of new fangled logistical type things down here...

I'm in Australia and this is news to me.

Everyone I know is relieved we're getting a vaccine and hoping this will all be over soon.

I hadn't heard anything about people being up in arms over us getting a "bad" vaccine. Maybe I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd?

@Wakeupalready

So some Australians are pissed for the following reasons.

The AZ ( Oxford) vaccine only offers 60-64% efficacy. The 90% result was a glitch, that hasn't yet been analysed fully and it's felt this needs more study to show this can be replicated at the higher level of effectiveness. We have the opportunity for full elimination of Covid and this vaccine is not likely to deliver that.

Secondly, several of our politicians engaged in insider trader, buying stocks in the company that makes it, prior to the government announcement. The CEO of CSL is a former LNP ( our government) party member, so there is a conflict of interest.

Thirdly, we have been told it is possible to buy the Pfizer vaccine privately, which is absolutely shite as it will only be the wealthy that benefit. Many of us are enraged that useless celebrities pay the big bucks and skip the quarantine in hotels and get special treatment. Same with business people, the cricket team and other individuals whose travel is unnecessary and their return trips take places on planes away from our citizens desperate to return. This is grossly unfair. The Australian cricket team was responsible for a plane load of people desperate to come home being bounced of the flight.

Fourth our government was incredibly slow in ordering and getting in line for the more effective Pfizer vaccine, indeed any vaccines .We never bid for the Moderna one. Our Prime Minister is big on making announcements then nothing happens.
( For an example, post our bushfires last year 2 billion dollars was announced for the victims of it to rebuild - early 2020 , and NONE of this money has been delivered, and folk who lost everting are still living in tents or cargo containers.

Fifth, our politicians will not lead by example and are all queueing up for the more effective Pfizer and they are not key workers ( parliament has rarely sat this year, and most of the heavy lifting has been done by our state leaders) , as our PM fucks off and disappears when any difficult questions have to be answered. We were told it's good enough for Australia's which was fairly insulting.

Sixth, virologists have raised questions about this, saying we need to hold off while further testing is done to see if the efficacy increases and were shut down the next day by the government.

So.
While many of us think that countries that are in a world of shit like the US are more in need of the better vaccines due to the high levels of carnage right now, it means ( according to the virologists who spoke out and were gagged) that we will be dealing with Covid for longer as a result.

If necessary , happy to dig out multiple sources confirming all this.

Pretty much all this. 65% is not robust immunity. It is certainly not enough for an Aussie to want to go visit family in one of the many many areas in the world where the virus is rife when you could stay safe at home.

This message from senior medical people is pretty mixed for example!

On Twitter? A 'loosing' of a mind? Must be true!

No point getting a load of Pfizer somewhere and it has spoiled in route.

Believe it or not, Australia has refrigerators and is able to keep things cold whilst they are transported from one part of the country to another. Just like almost every other country on the planet.

@Wakeupalready

our politicians will not lead by example and are all queueing up for the more effective Pfizer

I think it's a bit pointless to get worked up about which vaccine is more effective/safer at this point. It's too early to know with any certainty.

@Oaktree55

Oxford is inferior

Mass vaccination only started about a month ago for all these vaccines. Too soon to say any of these are 'inferior'

I would think most Australians will be relieved to receive a brilliant vaccine that works and is safe!

They have been completely isolated from the rest of the world, perhaps one or two are losing their bearings, but that is the same for every country. There are nutjobs in every country kicking off about absolutely everything, it is the human condition.

You do realise Australia won’t be able to lift border control even after mass vaccination if they want to keep to an elimination strategy. I’d imagine they’ll ditch elimination in favour of open borders but who knows. Probably keep closed borders for 18month-2yrs till this is stable globally. Vaccination isn’t the magic bullet.

@Oaktree55 as above Australia is following a suppression notvemination approach

• not elimination

@CarolEffingBaskin

Perhaps Australia could formulate their own vaccine if the one another country has put money and effort to isn't good enough?

It is, as is New Zealand.

I keep reading posts on here assuring that there are only a couple of vaccines. Truth is there are thousands in development.

I can’t say anyone I know in real life has complained about which vaccine we are getting or when. I have seen a few online comments about wanting the superior vaccine and a few anti vax microchip ones, but most comments are fairly positive.

I know the Oxford one is being manufactured in Melbourne and will be easier to distribute, and they are starting to roll vaccines out from next month.

From the beginning the whole approach was to reduce deaths and protect our health system which would have struggled if we hadn't closed the borders and reduced incoming and local transmission.
If the vaccine stops masses of people getting very sick then the border situation can be addressed.
Of course it's not clean cut. It's a pandemic and a constantly changing situation.

Haha typical country.... Closed themselves off from the world.

Refusing to come out to play until everyone else fixes the problem.. And then refuses a vaccine haha... I would like to ask what gives them the right to refuse when they have given little effort in the global race to fix this problem.