Australia has done a good job of balancing public welfare and the economy through lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We have come out of it better than most.
But the global vaccine wave is real and effective. At Bloomie today:
- Lab tests on the Pfizer vaccine show it be just as effective against UK and Brazilian strains.
- It is still robust against the South African variant.
The latest empirical research from the front lines of vaccine rollout in the UK is even more encouraging:
Morrison Government ineptitude means we have been very slow to take up the vaccines:
Australia hopeless at vaccines
But the latest Goldman outlook is for even us to reach herd immunity levels by Q3:
Vaccine hope on the horizon
Therefore we do need to be planning to change the pandemic management regime from today’s Nanny State border closures to a herd immunity strategy.
AFR is reporting some sense today:
- Premier Gladys Berejiklian, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued that Australia would fall behind economically if we do not begin to open borders permanently.
- Evidence from Isreal and the UK is rock solid.
- Professor of Psychiatry Shitij Kapur noted that politicians must lead the change in psychology.
Therein lies our problem.
The Virgin Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and the Sleaze PM, Scott Morrison, have exhausted their credibility on outrageous corruption scandals that would have, in the past, almost certainly cost them their jobs.
The Virgin Premier’s lover has been running around Asia doing dodgy deals directly under the banner of the NSW’s Premier’s office. The Sleaze PM has eleven unresolved cases of alleged sexual assault in his government.
Arguably, both have been protected by the fortress psychology that has come part and parcel with the lockdown regime. Yet, now, it is they that seek to lead the nation into the reopening.
It must happen or we will fall behind the world. That is true.
But let’s not pretend that dissolute leadership won’t retard the rollout with women, and probably everybody else as well.
Trust matters and they have none of it.
