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..

I kind of agree and I feel hopeful, however...

And even if only 60%, more than good enough?

I can see why people wouldn't be happy with 60% effectiveness. If I had a health condition that made me vulnerable I wouldn't feel safe if there was still a 40% I could get it.

Overall though I think it's really positive that we have a vaccine at all and I'll be very low down the list but will be accepting whichever one I am offered.

@NaughtipussMaximus

Bring out your dead!

@Forgetmenot157

What's with the nasty comments?

@eaglejulesk

I fail to see why anyone in the UK gives a fuck about what is happening in Australia.

Maybe read some of the earlier posts?

Possibly I have not expressed myself clearly. And yes, I can read.

I am responding to the OP's OP.

I don't get why non-Australians are posting here. Or even raising the issue

One of our government ministers has shares in the company thats producing the vaccine. That's partly what the concern is about. (There's been heaps of dodgy dealings with Liberal government. They are corrupt amoral skunks.)

"I don't get why non-Australians are posting here."

My reason: It's broadened out to a wider discussion of how the vaccine may affect the management in Australia and NZ - and it is interesting to discuss how different countries have approached and will approach things.
(Not least because we may be faced with similar decisions in the future - with hindsight maybe we would want to consider a more Australia/NZ approach here if there is a next time, although i realise - see many other threads - that there are significant obstacles in the way of that!)

Some incredibly bitter comments about Australia on this thread from people who are pretty uniformed about the country. I can only think the long lockdown is making a few people commenting here a bit unhinged.

@echt I get where your coming from, as any Australia/ NZ post usually ends up with a lot of shit throwing, but I keep an eye on what’s going on in the Uk as that’s where my family are. My family keep an eye on what’s going on in Australia because that’s were I am.

@Maudythebudgie

One of our government ministers has shares in the company thats producing the vaccine. That's partly what the concern is about. (There's been heaps of dodgy dealings with Liberal government. They are corrupt amoral skunks.)

Do you have a link for that?

It is bizarre how many UK posters feel the need to bash Australia and NZ. One can only assume spite is the motive as any fool can see what a colossal hole the UK is in and how well managed COVID is on the other side of the world.

[quote Takethereigns]@echt I get where your coming from, as any Australia/ NZ post usually ends up with a lot of shit throwing, but I keep an eye on what’s going on in the Uk as that’s where my family are. My family keep an eye on what’s going on in Australia because that’s were I am.[/quote]
Point taken. Most of my family and friends are in the UK, too.

The OP's thread has nothing to do with that. It's pure Aussie-baiting. Again.

Unsurprisingly the OP has not been back

@LizzieSiddal

My brother lives in Australia. He said most people he knows, including the huge multinational company he works for, don't want the vaccine- they want to wait and see if there are any major 'incidents' from people taking the vaccine. I asked him how long they were prepared to wait, he didn't have an answer.

I’m in Australia. I’ll be getting the vaccine as soon as I can. Not so much because I’m terrified of Covid but because I miss my old life. Life is much better here than in the UK but it’s certainly not ‘normal’. We still have social distancing, masks in some situations, number limits for restaurants, funerals and wedding and obviously we can’t leave the country. Even leaving your home state is a risk and could see you blocked from coming home indefinitely.

Australia and NZ are the most brilliant and exceptional nations on earth. All the rest of the world must accept that. If they want Pfizer and can wait let them. It will give them time to figure movement into remote and desert communities. Perhaps look to the problems in the US.

Us idiots in the UK will crack on with a good enough vaccine suited to Mass vaccine programme.

@LemonTT

Australia and NZ are the most brilliant and exceptional nations on earth. All the rest of the world must accept that. If they want Pfizer and can wait let them. It will give them time to figure movement into remote and desert communities. Perhaps look to the problems in the US.

Us idiots in the UK will crack on with a good enough vaccine suited to Mass vaccine programme.

You're not far wrong. Earlier reactions to the vaccines was very much along the lines of let's see how it goes elsewhere. It's so long back in Covid I don't have a link.

HTH.

@Aixenprovence

"I don't get why non-Australians are posting here."

My reason: It's broadened out to a wider discussion of how the vaccine may affect the management in Australia and NZ - and it is interesting to discuss how different countries have approached and will approach things.
(Not least because we may be faced with similar decisions in the future - with hindsight maybe we would want to consider a more Australia/NZ approach here if there is a next time, although i realise - see many other threads - that there are significant obstacles in the way of that!)

Agreed. It is very interesting just from an academic point of view as this is an experiment in real time that we can watch play out across the world as everyone has done different things. So Australia for example is a real time experiment in closed borders and the problems and advantages that come with the elimination strategy whereas the europe is elimination strategy and we can see the problems and advantages with that. I think it’ll be interesting to watch Australia over the next year as the vaccine is rolled out and when the Government think it’ll be safe to lift border restrictions. It’ll be equally interesting for everyone else in the world to watch Europe’s roll out. Everyone is also watching Israel of course. I don’t think any country can tell others not to watch them and comment on them. We all have an interest in the world’s population getting vaccinated. Here in U.K. we are well used to other countries commentating on what we are doing positively and more often negatively. It is annoying I agree but you can’t do anything about it!

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@fridget none claim to reduce transmission though , that is still unknown [/quote]
Recent data suggests Pfizer may reduce transmission. It's based on an extrapolation of the Moderna results as both use the same technology. The sample size is small though so more data is required.

“It would be safe to conclude from the very limited findings that the mRNA vaccine has some effect on infection and therefore probably transmission, but it’s a pretty small data set to hang your hat on“, Marc Lipsitch, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Health Policy Watch during a media advisory on Tuesday.

healthpolicy-watch.news/vaccines-reduce-asymptomatic-transmission/

Agreed. It is very interesting just from an academic point of view as this is an experiment in real time that we can watch play out across the world as everyone has done different things. So Australia for example is a real time experiment in closed borders and the problems and advantages that come with the elimination strategy whereas the europe is elimination strategy and we can see the problems and advantages with that. I think it’ll be interesting to watch Australia over the next year as the vaccine is rolled out and when the Government think it’ll be safe to lift border restrictions. It’ll be equally interesting for everyone else in the world to watch Europe’s roll out. Everyone is also watching Israel of course. I don’t think any country can tell others not to watch them and comment on them. We all have an interest in the world’s population getting vaccinated.
Here in U.K. we are well used to other countries commentating on what we are doing positively and more often negatively. It is annoying I agree but you can’t do anything about it

I'd get your point if as much attention was paid to er........anywhere that isn't Australia.

But it isn't.

@Forgetmenot157

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.

Closing ourselves off from the world, as opposed to letting our population rampage across Europe etc on holidays with no quarantine or testing on return, kinda worked. It's unbelievable to us that this is still allowed, and your govt. only started requiring negative tests prior to entry very very recently.

We aren't refusing the vaccine, we are querying its efficacy as we could completely suppress it / eliminate it. And because our government is corrupt, and is notorious for favouring contracts to mates , yes we are sceptical .
I think you have that issue in the UK too.

We've also contributed over half a million dollars to assist our Pacific island neighbours purchase vaccines. Has the UK done this or something similar?

@echt - I'd get your point if as much attention was paid to er........anywhere that isn't Australia.

Try being Irish on here. Massive anti-Irish sentiment that MNHQ ignore. Same with the anti-Aussie sentiment.

I meandered in here as I'm really impressed with how Australia and NZ have managed the whole crisis and was just interested in the reasons behind your attitudes.

Admittedly, you do have geographic advantages that many of us in Europe don't have but even so, great job. Here in Ireland, we were hamstrung by the DUP refusal to take an all-Ireland approach, meaning even if the political will was there, we couldn't shut down entry. When we did shut our borders to GB, NI didn't, so travel just went through Belfast.

Didn't realise that Australians had tight minds to begin with.....

[bangs head against wall]

Unsurprisingly the OP has not been back hmm

The title does suggest a dit of Daily Mail style baiting, particularly the inability to spell losing

Has the UK done this or something similar?

I think you'll find that the Oxford vaccine is being produced as not for profit so as to enable us to precisely help millions in developing countries, so UK doing far more actually.

[quote trulydelicious]@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.[/quote]
The point of that comment is we are told "it's good enough for Australians", yet not good enough for our leaders.
And 95% plus is definitely better than 60-64%.
AZ may end up fine, but it won't achieve herd immunity if the 90% was an anomaly, and further trials are needed to clarify this.

@Miramour

It is bizarre how many UK posters feel the need to bash Australia and NZ. One can only assume spite is the motive as any fool can see what a colossal hole the UK is in and how well managed COVID is on the other side of the world.

I am not sure that two wrongs make a right...

Some nasty comments on this thread.

I’m in the UK but would much rather be in Australia or NZ right now.

Their handling of the pandemic hasn’t led to over 100,000 dead after all. Unlike here. UK is certainly world beating there if not with any other aspect of their inept handling of this pandemic.