Draw near, kiddies, I have been thinking and have something to share -- about Australia, the pandemic, and vaccination.

Because, you see, our success has made us arrogant. We feel we can wait for the vaccine. At least another 60 or 90 days.

We can't.
Oh sure, over in WA they can probably wait until 2025 for a vaccine.

But I'm talking about right here, in Sydney, where there is a growing sense that the current outbreak might just be getting away from us.

And we might need to go into a broader lockdown to keep it controlled.
It's very sobering to think that those poor Americans and Europeans _over there_ will have to be the guinea pigs for some very new #covid19 vaccines.

And we want to believe we will not have to make the same, tough choices.

But we are just one bad outbreak away from that.
If we'd had a vaccine in July, I can well imagine we'd have done our best to vaccinate metropolitan Melbourne.

If we had a vaccine right now, I reckon we'd already be vaccinating the Northern Beaches as a priority.

To stop the outbreak in its tracks.

But we have no vaccine.
So our defense against the pandemic is good public health practices, quarantining arrivals, contact tracing, social distancing, and all the rest.

They're good.

They're not perfect.

And they always fail eventually.

Without a vaccine, that means an outbreak.

Do we risk this?
I feel as though we have to be aggressively pursuing vaccines that can be used on an emergency basis -- so that if an outbreak gets away from us...

...something that may already be underway...

We can put out the fire, before it spreads.

Before our luck runs out.
With luck, we have time to wait, and vaccinate the vast majority of Australians in an orderly manner.

But in Sydney, I reckon that's a gamble.

Do the dangers of the vaccine outweigh the dangers of an outbreak here in Sydney?

We need to be asking this question urgently.
You can follow @mpesce.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled:

By continuing to use the site, you are consenting to the use of cookies as explained in our Cookie Policy to improve your experience.