Vaccination Rollout Australia

[aggienaut]

   A week ago I finally got my first vaccine dose (pfizer), after having reloaded the appointment webpages multiple times daily for months. I still wouldn't be eligible if I weren't a volunteer firefighter, general eligibility is only 40+ at this point. Currently 12.2% of Australians are fully vaccinated, which is a lower number than any other developed country and even India (US presently stands at 49.4%).

   Australia has been unusually successful with containing outbreaks with spot lockdowns, but I fear the government has come to rely on this method and it's given people the sense that covid is beatable and getting a vaccine may not be urgent. Also I fear that lockdowns will become less effective as people grow complacent and tired of them. (And there's currently an outbreak in the state of New South Wales which may be out of control (that being said, 1,563 current locally acquired cases, with 495 new cases in the last week would be a miraculously low number anywhere in the states)

   As with other issues, I will qualify that I live in rural Australia which may skew more conservative than in the cities, but nearly every conversation I've heard about the vaccine mentions "the bloodclots." Which remind you, you're more likely to get from flying on an airplane and nearly all these same people would willingly fly on an airplane. I'm not very plugged in to Australian news but there was a radio on near me at work the other day and while the host was urging people to get the vaccine, he never failed to mention "now there are risks and it's a choice you need to carefully consider, but I do think you should get the vaccine," a recommendation so qualified I think its more likely to encourage hesitency than vaccine-getting.

   A year ago I thought we'd be getting back to normal much faster here than America since we were barely hit by Covid, but it looks like due to the extremely lackluster vaccination rollout we are now way behind. International travel, which is of paramount importance to me, shows no sign of re-normalizing here in the forseeable future.

Comments

[newwaytowrite.livejournal.com]

What is the time line for your second shot?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I think they said three weeks? They said I would get an automated email so I'm patiently waiting for it. I've gotten automated follow up emails asking if I had any negative side effects of the vaccine so I'm confident i'm in the automated email system and it's working. Getting the original appointent was by no means simple though as every vaccination center seems to have entirely its own appointment system for initial appointments.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! We both got Pfizer, second dose at exactly 21 days down to the hour. Spain now has something like 54% of the population immunized and are now doing the 15 to 29 age group and anybody else who missed it first time around. All the contagion or just about is mostly in that age span. Of course we've had a terrible time of it with the virus and still are in some ways but we're getting there...more population density in a much smaller country will do that.
I am getting a bit frantic as regards international travel myself. The US shows no sign of allowing Schengen country people back in and while I could go as a US citizen, it would be exceedingly difficult for Manolo to accompany me since his ESTA has lapsed and they're not renewing at the moment. I have about one year to get some urgent business done in the US which stupidly must be done in person.
How is Cristina?

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[benicek.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise they were so far behind. I've been envying my sister's seemingly 'normal' pre-covid life in Tasmania but that could go awfully pear-shaped.

This kind of rational-sounding watered-down vaccine scepticism is more insidious than full-froot-loop denial.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I think Tassie has been pretty good all along, I don't know if they got international arrivals before but I don't think they do now, and they're even able to control their arrivals from mainland Australia so I think in all this time they've had just a handful of cases. I've often wondered if on like King Island, an island between Victoria and Tasmania that is part of the Tasmanian state, if they're even bothing with masks and such considering they're so very very insulated,

[basudelon.livejournal.com]

The bloodclot side effect has been AstraZeneca's issue. After couple deaths here in Canada we donated the whole storage of AstraZeneca vaccine to World Health Organization and they re-distributed it to third countries. Pfizer and Moderna never had this side effect. I've got two dozes of Pfizer but with 8 weeks lag instead of 3. Our health service authority prioritized vast first doze coverage over the proper lag between dozes as per vaccine design.

[picosgemeos.livejournal.com]

I’m getting my first shot tomorrow. It’s probably AstraZeneca or Coronavac. Can’t wait!!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Wooo! Presumably you have gotten it now! How long is the wait for the second dose there?

[picosgemeos.livejournal.com]

Yes, had it now - AstraZeneca, and felt very sick for first 12 hours. But very glad I got it. The wait is now 12 weeks for second shot (end of Oct.)