#auspol I've had first dose AZ, just as context. This isn't a pro-vax/anti-vax question for me, or even…

#auspol I've had first dose AZ, just as context. This isn't a pro-vax/anti-vax question for me, or even pro-AZ/anti-AZ. Twitter turns everything into debating binaries. It's about public health strategy. 1/7 https://t.co/vj7QfwoECO

This idea, for example, about how we need to keep using AZ because otherwise (apparently) the country will be overrun by Covid. Why did we go from more than a year of grit and determination to keep Covid out, to suddenly believing outbreaks are inevitable? A dangerous shift. 2/7

NZ has refused this path. With calm determination it's listened to public concern and prioritised fairness and longer-term public buy-in. What damage are we doing to future vaccination campaigns in Oz by ramming a deeply unpopular vaccine into a pro-vax nation's arms? 3/7

The risk profile for our current strategy is predicated on an assumption that there will be outbreaks. There has been NO risk assessment on those outbreaks themselves. They're just assumed. Doing that assessment might force action on known problems, like leaky HQ. 4/7

Australia, like NZ, could put the strategic focus on preventing virus entering the country, while it rolls out the optimum vaccines. It could even stop arrivals completely, while it does that. It's only a few months until sufficient mRNA vaccine supply should be available. 5/7

The world is not racing ahead of us in some fairy tale 'opening up', another narrative used to justify the existing strategy. The pandemic is worse now than it was in 2020. Countries with rapid vaccination, like the UK and US, are being hammered by variants. 6/7

A pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint. Australia knew that in 2020. In 2021 it seems to feel that waiting a few months and shifting strategy to allow that will usher in some sort of apocalypse. The anti-lockdown/open up economic status quo folk are responsible. (not @drvyom) 7/7