OK boomers, Australia needs you. Toughen up and take your AstraZeneca
OK boomers. It’s time we had a serious talk about vaccines. I know you’ve always expected – and received – the best. That’s what happens when you are the dominant demographic group, bridging as you did the post-world war two baby surge and the advent of the pill.
No one has enjoyed the pandemic but for rich boomers the disruptions have been offset by rising property prices and share portfolios – all you really had to lose were your franking credit-funded winter cruises.
While the oldies were in the Covid kill zone and the youngies were told to put their education and careers on hold and raid their super if they ran out of cash, you withstood the challenges of 2020 with the accumulated buffer of four decades of unbroken growth.
Now we need you to stand up, boomers. The outbreaks of new Delta strain are more virulent, attacking young people as much as the old; it’s out and about and we need to get vaccinated fast. Seventy per cent of adults, by the PM’s estimation, need to be vaccinated before the lockdowns end, of which you (as always) make up an outsized proportion.
But here’s the thing. According to this week’s Guardian Essential report, the 3m doses of AstraZeneca sitting on the shelf aren’t good enough for way too many of you.
Three-quarters of those aged in their 50s and half of those aged over 60 who haven’t had a jab yet say they won’t be getting the AZ. Let’s call it as it is: boomers are demanding the topshelf vaccine or nothing at all.
To be fair, the prime minister did a pretty good job of convincing you that AZ was “poison” and not a world class vaccine with rare side-effects which, when properly monitored, are extremely treatable.
The late-night April press conference, when the PM breathlessly announced that the advice behind AZ had changed and the jab would not be recommend for under-50s had, like everything this leader does, an ulterior political motive: to let the government dodge responsibility for its already sluggish vaccine rollout.
These figures show the danger in overhyping a public health warning. As Atagi and now the prime minister try to recalibrate the risk, saying AZ is a perfectly good vaccine, what many are hearing is something more like, “It’s time for you to take your poison.”
It’s a curious attitude from a generation who always prided themselves on their adventurous spirt and preparedness to have a go. The boomer generation remade western society, their cultural heroes took drugs, lived hard and worshipped youth. Now they cower from a vaccine.
This double standard transcends generational lines. As these figures show, nearly two-thirds of those who say they won’t take AZ admit to other behaviour that is far more dangerous than taking a shot of a world-class vaccine.
Seriously, Australia must come across as the world’s poor little rich nation; trapped in lockdown while we refuse to take our medicine. We demand the best or we will just sit back and wait for what we perceive to be the good stuff – even though AZ is a very, very good vaccine. Except we are not “just waiting”, because waiting implies a stasis. This inactivity is actively destroying hard-fought-for businesses, disrupting the educational rite of passage of our kids, putting their mental health at risk.
I know the marketing orthodoxy is that you don’t shame people into behavioural change, that you need to take people along by reinforcing their preexisting worldview rather than calling out their BS. But seriously, isn’t this part of our problem; that we approach the vaccine as a consumer choice?
What we need right now is sustained social pressure and maybe a little tough love.
As the vast majority of Australians, even those who have yet to be vaccinated agree, there should be long-term benefits for those who have had a jab and no ground for complaint if those who don’t are excluded from the benefits of our affluent society. As for the Pfizer? Give it to people who really need it.
So here’s the news, boomers. It’s fine to be anxious; anxiety is the price of entry in dealing with a once-a-century pandemic. But taking an AstraZeneca shot is not some act of heroism, it’s your civic duty.
Each and every one of us who is eligible for AZ should not just be rolling up our sleeves, but wearing our AZ status with pride, showing the rest of Australia we are prepared to do our bit.
Harden up, boomers. Your country needs you.
Peter Lewis will be discussing the results of the latest Guardian Essential report at 1pm on Tuesday with Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy. Free registration here
What we need right now is sustained social pressure and maybe a little tough love