It’s not surprising that Australia has botched the vaccine rollout. The federal government has repeatedly shown itself to be very capable at announcing things and absolutely incapable at actually doing them.
In this case, the bureaucrat running the vaccine rollout — former chief medical officer and long-time administrator Brendan Murphy — has always been clear about the government’s real intentions. On March 22, Murphy stated: “We do not have community transmission in Australia. We have the time to do it properly”.
This has been a constant theme: slow equals safe, we don’t need to rush. Morrison even tried to show just how safe Australia was being when criticising the UK. (He wrongly claimed the UK was not running basic safety tests on the AstraZeneca vaccine).
But when the success of the vaccination rollouts in the US, UK and Israel became clear and Brisbane was thrown into lockdown — just in time to destroy billions of dollars of internal tourism — Morrison did a quick reverse ferret. The cautious vaccinator started admonishing the states for not vaccinating quickly enough.
Morrison and Murphy have form on this. More than a year ago, I noted “we have a flip-flopping and publicity-hungry PM way out of his depth, being advised by a kidney expert turned hospital executive who seems even more out of his depth”.
But a national vaccine rollout is not an easy thing to flip-flop on because a ramp-up will take time. As tech guru Paul Bassat tweeted yesterday, “over the past 7 days Uruguay going 8x faster than us, US 7x, UK 5x, Canada and France 3x”.
Morrison’s lifelong history of incompetence combined with rat cunning and fundamental dishonesty means he’s possibly the worst person to be leading Australia during a pandemic. While the states are far from blameless, the federal government’s vaccine strategy always seemed like it was designed to avoid criticism from anti-vaxxers, rather than to ensure the fastest possible rollout.
It started with the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) relatively lengthy review process (which Morrison was trying to defend when he criticised the UK in January). Unlike many other countries, Australia doesn’t have an emergency-use authorisation, so the TGA needed to undertake a more fulsome approval process. This is why the UK started vaccinating people in early December and Australia started almost three full months later. It then took the TGA almost five extra months to approve CSL’s Melbourne-made vaccine.
When Anthony Albanese justifiably questioned why we were taking so long, Morrison reverted to form. “You don’t rush to failure,” he said. “That’s very dangerous for Australians … for the vaccine to be successful, Australians have to have confidence in it.”
It is likely that the federal government opted for a GP rollout because it is so fearful of people hesitating to take the vaccine. Presumably Morrison and Hunt thought using a trusted GP network over the far more efficient mass vaccination centres used by the UK and US would reduce the population’s weariness (even though Australians have long been among the world’s most willing vaccinators).
Then you’ve got the states, who haven’t exactly been helping. On Friday, Victoria decided to close its small number of vaccination hubs for Easter to give staff “a rest”. The struggling tourism, live entertainment and CBD dining sectors would no doubt love to have a rest too; sadly they’re too busy working out how to make payroll as JobKeeper ends.
The Easter break certainly didn’t slow the US vaccination push, with a record 4 million people vaccinated in a single day.
Australians aren’t dying, but parts of the community are absolutely suffering. In a nation of snap lockdowns and border closures, we can’t afford to take things so slowly.
Are you concerned about the speed of the vaccine rollout? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say section
So many articles on 1 topic – vaccine roll out – which one should we comment on
– My doctor laughed when I talked to him about it. He didn’t know who the idiots were who designed the roll out. Was it the Department ? was it the consultants [ for millions of dollars]? The doctor who has been vaccinating for 40+ years said they had to do an online certificate to be licensed to vaccinate for Covid..
Part of the instructions/questions were
1 Do not use the same needle twice . ….and in another part… 2 discard the needle and syringe after use…
3 Throw out the vial and any unused contents after drawing up the required quantities.
So why criticise the roll out, be grateful it ever happened with that degree of expertise designing it.
Our doctor and practice nurse had the same experience. Neither have been vaccinating for 40 years, know their vax protocols inside out and found it hilarious but a complete waste of time. I’ve been wondering at the various photo ads where the person giving the vaccine isn’t even gloves and mask.
Years ago, my husband used an old English army saddle which he found really comfortable out on the moors.. On either side, provided you faced the horse’s ears, were “L” and “R”.
A rare sensible column from Adam Schwab… but I wonder whether it’s a typo’ with vaccine ‘weariness’ instead of ‘wariness.’ You don’t refuse a vaccine if you’re tired.
I’m weary of the reporting on the vaccine for sure! I’m also not convinced about the suitability of the word fulsome in this article based on my understanding of its definitions… I look forward to some grammar policing.. But agree its a relief that AS refrained from his usual goings on about opening up to travel again!
Sorry Beth, I tut-tutted about the abuse of “fulsome” before seeing your comment.
I was beginning to think it was a rare sensible column until I read down to “Then you’ve got the states, who haven’t exactly been helping. On Friday, Victoria decided to close its small number of vaccination hubs for Easter to give staff “a rest”.
If ever there were staff in need of a rest it would be medical staff after the last year.
Ha! My neighbor is an ER nurse.
She has just had the easiest year she can remember in 20 years.
Their is zero excuse for “resting” vaccine centers. Get on with it, people may/will die if you don’t.
Adam should be schwabed off the deck. He’s forever the travel agent. Vested interest compels him to hurry the vax for a supposed quick fix to fill his airBNB’s. Now I understand why Cky has persisted with all the lopsided and totally unbalanced vax articles. It’s all for Adam.
I do like what you did there though!
If the government is concerned the public may be wary of the vaccine they should stop Greg Hunt from assuring us how safe it is. His credibility, like Morrison’s, is zero.
If the gHunt, or any of this lot, told me it was fine & sunny outside I’d take an umbrella.
Like pretty much everything else Schmorrison touches, it’s a dog. But he of course has his shot, as do (no doubt) his family and all the other ‘important’ people. The rest of us – meh.
Oh yes they have had the vaccine with next to no side effects and the rest of us, they certainly don’t care.
“Now it’s blown up in his face.”
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer and less deserving bloke.