Oh dear. The Morrison Government’s vaccine strategy is on verge of collapse today as government MPs jump like rats from a sinking ship. Senator Matt Canavan has called for the rollout to be suspended. This follows last night’s news that both France, Germany and Spain have canned their rollouts.
As noted yesterday, the European polity is in revolt against the Astra Zeneca vaccine that PM Morrison rushed into in a political stunt last year:
Europeans say no to ScoMo
Not to mention that that mad rush led to some nice fringe benefits for Coalition mates:
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
Of course, the Tin PM chose to have the Pfizer vaccine instead, so he had no moral authority to demand anyone else has AZ.
Local health authorities are still demanding Australians continue to get the vaccine. But with the newsflow outrunning them willingness is going to fall. The latest Essential Report may already show the tin end of the wedge:
Anxiety rising
The Government has already led Australia backward to all but last on the global rollout:
Last among equals
So far only 164k Australians have been vaccinated. The targets ahead are a joke. Doctors are in revolt. Alternatives to AZ don’t arrive until mid-year at the earliest.
Combined with the refusal to open centralised quarantine facilities, this is a tens of billions of dollars Morrison Government mismanagement debacle.
