ScoMo told to phone a friend after vaccine switch debacle
BRITAIN’S bet spreading vaccine success has prompted calls for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to phone Boris Johnson and ask for advice.
Pubs, hairdressers and shops open from Monday in Britain, with predictions that herd immunity may have already been achieved.
More than 20 million people have received their first dose of either the Oxford
AstraZeneca vaccine, which is still backed by 75 per cent of Brits despite the extremely rare cases of blood clots that prompted restrictions on the jab there for people under 30 this week.
Another 10 million Pfizer jabs have been rolled out, while Moderna vaccine doses were used in Wales this week.
Australia’s eggs-in-one-basket vaccine program is in chaos, with targets missed by more than three million and concerns that the country would not be able to quickly secure more Pfizer jabs amid fierce global competition.
People wanting to get an Oxford AstraZeneca jab were turned away in Australia this week amid legal red tape following a change in advice that anyone under 50 should now be offered a Pfizer jab.
Former South Australian Premier Mike Rann, now based in London, said that Australia’s vaccination plan “doesn’t make sense”.
“Australia and New Zealand led the world in (their) response to the coronavirus pandemic while Britain stuffed its response,” he said.
“But what I can’t understand is, Britain has rolled out its vaccine brilliantly. Well over 30 million have had their jab. It’s a reversal of 2020.
“I don’t understand the delays. Why didn’t they (the Australian government) pick up the phone and ask, ‘what have you done well?’ Australia has dropped the ball,” he said.