Australia is already all but last among developed economies in the vaccine rollout owing to Morrison Government bumbling and corruption:
Last week I noted that several European countries had paused the rollout of Morrison’s chosen vaccine, and this would push us further behind. Over the weekend the situation deteriorated further. At Bloomie:
- A dozen separate countries have suspended the AZ jab and more are joining the revolt this morning.
- Increasingly, European populations are skeptical of the AZ vaccine and want to wait for the Pfizer version:
Europeans say no to ScoMo
This is the problem I noted last week. Vaccine rollouts need to be treated with great care by governments to ensure credibility. Once trust is lost, the willingness to participate collapses.
Australians already had every right to feel the way Europeans do after the Morrison Government’s rushed choice of the AZ vaccine was exposed:
Goodness.
The Director of Government Affairs at Scott Morrison’s suddenly favourite new drug company AstraZeneca is former federal govt lobbyist Kieran Schneemann.
He’s also a former Chief of Staff in the Liberal party.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all.
— RonniSalt (@RonniSalt) August 19, 2020
Now Australians have the European experience to reinforce their skepticism (which probably is fine but this is all about perceptions).
Morrison himself tried to resurrect confidence by declaring the vaccine safe on the weekend:
Scott Morrison has sought to reassure Australians that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is safe after some European countries suspended their rollouts of the jab during an investigation into cases of blood clots.
Except that PM Morrison got the Pfizer vaccine himself so he isn’t exactly standing behind his words.
Alas, the Morrison Government’s corrupt processes are about to cost us billions more as the national vaccine rollout slows while everybody waits for the Pfizer jab, which may arrive around mid-year if it has not stuffed that up as well.
