OK Boomer, time to get the jab

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Boomers. They’re old. They’re spoilt. They’ve had free education, health care and fat pensions. They’ve hollowed out the Australian economy with housing speculation. Now, they’re costing every Australian untold billions by forcing the country into lockdown every five minutes.

It’s time we force jabbed them with COVID-19 vaccines. By all means, give them a choice which one. But jab ’em. Why?

Because the key to getting back to normal is not to completely cure the virus. Nobody is sure that is even possible. It’s probably with us forever. The key to normalisation is to stop hospitalisations. If hospitals are cleared for good then there is no risk of the COVID-19 healthcare congestion that turns the virus deadly to all.

It is steadily becoming apparent that the new wave of vaccines will achieve that end. For instance, the test case for the Pfizer vaccine in Israel is going swimmingly with a huge sample size released by its largest health care provider showing super results:

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  • Both infection and serious illness were radically reduced.
  • 94% of the vaccinated had less symptoms and 92% avoided serious illness.
  • It was just as effective for those above 70 as it was below.

The case for mandatory jabbing the most vulnerable community in our society is strong. Obviously, it is a benefit to them. And, we get on the path to rapid normalisation with hospitals stabilised, which means that anybody still contracting the virus has much better clinical outcomes as well.

Moreover, because the virus is most dangerous to the elderly, everybody else has made large sacrifices in their name. Mass lockdowns, job losses, lost wealth and lifestyle disruption are all consequences of that collective sacrifice. Then there is this from Domain:

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Across the world, they have lost economic opportunities, missed traditional milestones and forfeited relationships at a pivotal time for forming identity.

“Many feel they’re paying the price not of the pandemic, but of the measures taken against the pandemic,” said Dr Nicolas Franck, the head of a psychiatric network in Lyon, France.

In a survey of 30,000 people that he conducted last spring, young people ranked the lowest in psychological well-being, he said.

I supported it. But it can’t go on just to pander to fossilied fear. If the vaccines are safe, and that case is strengthening every day, then it is time that the elderly gave back to the society that protected them and get the jab.

We could make this mandatory but that is probably not necessary. Another way to do it is to make a wholesale regime shift from “virus containment” and “elimination” to “herd immunity” and “personal responsibility”. That would force Boomers to either get the jab or wear the consequences personally.

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Then again, Australia’s completely busted political economy is led by an inept robot with a corrupted empathy program and various little state dictators with whom the ScoBot can’t communicate, so could they even co-ordinate this outcome?

If not, then the Morrison Government should go mandatory and tie the jab to any and every government giveaway and service for everybody over 60.

No negative gearing without the jab!

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.