Australia says no to AZ and J&J vaccines--vax rollout likely to be delayed by months

[Kokeshi123]

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/13/australia-wont-buy-johnson-johnsons-one-dose-covid-vaccine-due-to-astrazeneca-similarities

I know quite a lot of Ozzies who are completely stranded outside their country due to the fact that they cannot keep small children within a hotel room for two weeks and pay a fortune for the priviledge. As it is, it's looking like Oz will not be removing its quarantine requirements until well into 2022 at the earliest.

I mean, I do think that a basic strategy of "(1) Hold borders tight with Zero Covid until the vax>(2) Unroll vax> (3) Open borders" is a sound one, but it does depend on the second and third bits of the plan actually happening...

@newstart1234 the level of arrivals under the border restrictions is what the current system at its current capacity can cope with.
That's exactly why there is a limit.
So no, the level of control is not excessive.

I don’t understand this. For residents can they not provide something better than a single hotel room? Build a kind of mini village for quarantine citizens or something...

Because quarantine need to be near large hospitals with the training and facilities to provide for infectious people.
Those large hospitals are in large cities without room for a special village.

Also federal govt would rather wash their hands of any of their actual responsibilities when it comes to quarantine and leave it to the states to manage because then they can blame them if something goes wrong.
It’s Politics 1st after all.

@DirtyDancing there is one in Howard springs, and another one mooted but no work to build it until after hurricane season.
But as Dirty said they need to also be near major infrastructure.

Tbf to both federal and state, Australia has nearly 26 million people living there, I think? The people who want to travel back (many of whom have been living abroad for years) are a very small minority - at most, 10,000. Thinking about numbers, the total dead from covid in the UK of 150,000 is many times that number.

Whoops, should say as mypath said...

I watched something really good the other day - Stateless has anyone seen it? It did make me wonder how those centres manage atm

I think more pressure should be put on the airlines to be transparent about bookings so there is less of a rollercoaster for those trying to get here.

There’s a legal challenge to the exit ban coming up. Was due to be heard by a single fed court judge but has been upgraded to a full panel. Will watch with interest.

Teaslight there are many many many more people than 10k who want to travel into Australia. A third of aussies were born overseas and 50% have one or more parents born abroad. The fact that there are currently 10k expats who have an urgent need to be back and so are on relief lists tells you nothing about demand. There will be millions of Australians and relatives affected by this ban.

There's a big difference between being stranded abroad and wanting to go somewhere. Families are being kept apart more drastically in the UK, where people can't even meet in each other's homes.

So your argument is Australia should let people who want to be with their families, be with them? So I presume you support and campaign for visas for all the people who want to move to Australia to be reunited with their families? Like you say, millions of people are affected. Do you support and campaign to give money to the many Australians (abroad or Australia) who can't afford to travel to see their families?

I don't understand what you want. A situation like the UK, where people can fly in and out no problem but can't visit their families in their own homes, or maybe never see them again because they're one of the 150,000 dead from covid? Or too unwell to travel to see family because long covid makes just getting out of bed difficult. The UK is facing 5 years delay for medical treatment due to the backlog. You think all that is the better option?

Also the figures you quote. One third of Aussies born overseas. So two thirds - the majority - weren't. And, of the one third born overseas or the 50% with a parent abroad - a fair chunk of these people will be refugees. The very nature of being a refugee - being forced to leave your own country because it's too dangerous - means they won't be able to visit their family regardless of covid. It's a minority of Australians who can and do.

What the actual fvck are you talking about teaslight? Australia takes about 18k refugees a year. You are talking utter horseshit.

Ummm, no. 1/3 are born overseas and 50% have one or more parent born overseas. An absolutely tiny minority are refugees.
Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world, with waves of immigration over the past 100 years (and longer)
There is barely a child at my sons’ school who doesn’t have at least one parent born overseas, and the ones that do, nearly all have a grandparent from overseas. And we are a population that travels a great deal on the back of this.

And, to help you along with some very basic maths, one third of 26m is roughly 8.5m people. It is A LOT of people.

I don't get your point?

Mine was that many of the Australian residents with a parent abroad or who were themselves born overseas will be refugees. And therefore unable to visit families abroad (as their homeland is too dangerous for them).

Yes but your point is totally wrong.

Also tealights stop repeating that families cannot see each other in the U.K. I can see my friends and family here tomorrow. I just can’t go into their house.

What I want is to be able to book a flight to Australia at a non eye watering price and to have a reasonable quarantine/testing regime imposed. I am fully vaccinated. I am an Australian citizen. It is my right to return home for whatever the hell reason I want, and limitations on that should be reasonable, proportionate and humane. The current situation is none of those things.

Sorry but you are a troll and you need to get back in your ill informed box.

Do you know anything about Australia? Where are you getting this random picture that we’re a country of refugees

I think they are a troll @Ozgirl75. I am guessing an extinction rebellion type.

Oh! Weird.
But also silly because they look totally uninformed and daft.

It’s very strange. But the posting style is hypnotically repetitive and utterly ill informed.

I cross posted. Ok very small number of refugees in Australia.

Does Australia have a fund for people who can't afford to travel abroad to see their families? Your post @Ozgirl75 emphasises the importance of being able to do this, and since long haul travel is expensive, I assume there must be some form of help.

Most of the people I have met whilst living in Aus are either immigrants( like me), 1st or second generation born in Australia. It is very multi cultural.

The travel ban is less of an upset to people here as most are not in a position to travel several times a year to visit family, but that doesn’t mean we are happy with the status quo. We want to be able to visit family and have them visit us. I had hopes for the end of the year/ start of next year.

Vaccines are rolling out, but will inevitably stall once they reach vaccinating the under 50s.

Of course they don’t have a fund. People factor this in when they chose to move. They factor in that it will be years between visits. It doesn’t mean it’s fair for someone who usually goes 5 years between visits to have to wait another 4 years on top of that, because the government don’t want to be the ones who let covid in.

@Ozgirl75

Do you know anything about Australia? Where are you getting this random picture that we’re a country of refugees

I wondered (and stated that it was a guess).

Trolling because I think Australia made the right decision? Ok then.

Tbh it's more troll like to insist that your want to travel abroad now now now trumps the majority population's need to protect lives, health, and livelihoods.

I mean, to seriously suggest that it's preferable to have 150,000 dead, 1 million long term ill, ruined businesses, and a five year healthcare backlog