Govt ignored ATAGI advice on vaccines for older Australians

Following earlier ATAGI advice, those aged 16-59 can choose either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine. However, those aged over 60 who wish to be vaccinated have no choice and are forced to accept AstraZeneca.

Many older Australians have serious concerns about the relative effectiveness of the two vaccines. The assumptions underlying the Doherty modelling are that Pfizer is 79 per cent effective against overall infection whereas AstraZeneca is 60 per cent effective. There is also concern about possible side effects of AstraZeneca.

Due to these concerns they remain unvaccinated although having a strong desire to be vaccinated.

ATAGI advice published on August 27 recommends that "vaccination of [the] 12-15-year age group is of a lower priority than older adults" as the direct benefits are greatest for older Australians. ATAGI "therefore recommends ... provision of choice of vaccine to ensure that older adults are vaccinated".

The government was quick to accept ATAGI's earlier advice on the provision of Pfizer to those aged 59 and under. The government agrees that older Australians are among those most vulnerable to COVID-19. By ignoring ATAGI's advice to offer them a choice of vaccines, it is discriminating against this vulnerable group with increased risk of hospitalisation and death.

I am 61 years old and I have no choice about which vaccination I am entitled to. Mr Morrison and his government have quashed any right of choice.

If he wishes to increase vaccination levels I suggest he makes all vaccinations an individual choice and stops dictating to the community.

Our only Australian COVID-19 (COVAX-19 by Vaxine) developed by Professor Nikolai Petrovsky and his team at Flinders University, Adelaide, is a very safe and effective recombinant protein vaccine (tried and true technology for 50 years - that we confidently give to our babies) that has been developed to protect against the variants (such as Delta) and stop transmission.

It is the best in the world! And, it is right here under our noses. It doesn't appear to have dangerous side effects.

A big advantage is that it appears to be able to stop transmission, unlike AstraZeneca and Pfizer which cannot prevent the spread of the disease (and lockdowns).

Our brilliant Flinders University Protein vaccine is in global phase-three trials now and it is anticipated COVAX-19 by Vaxine will soon be authorised for use overseas.

We need it here in Australia. We should be manufacturing it and exporting billions of doses around the world, making billions of dollars to put back into the Australian economy.

Why are we standing in line for overseas-developed vaccines when we have one of the best right here? Wake up Australia.

As at midnight on September 1, Australian Paralympians had won 60 medals (13 gold, 23 silver, 24 bronze). Dutch athletes had won 39 medals (19 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze) and Azerbaijan 16 medals (11 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze).

In addition to athletes' normal coaches, Australia may need specialist coaches whose sole role will be to discern athletes who can give more and extract that from them, bringing them to the next medal level.

It may be able to learn from the Netherlands or from Azerbaijan.

Dodging COVID-19 is one thing, but dodging golf balls on public ovals is quite another. A daily highlight of lockdown is going to the local oval with your young child and dog for play and exercise.

At any one time, multiple golfers, some with three woods, are churning through their balls in all directions. This has been going on for years but during lockdowns it is magnified.

My suggestion would be to restrict it to certain locations and times. If you do get hit by a golf ball, presumably liability rests with both the individual golfer and ACT government.

Watching the reports of anti-lockdown protesters in Melbourne attacking police filled me with disgust at their self-centred stupidity. It's bad enough that they're gathering in large numbers, but actually attacking police? That's unconscionable.

I hope they think a bit about the consequences of their actions when they go to pay their $5400 fines.

However, I wonder who organised these rallies?

Over the last 20 years since the World Trade Centre attacks, the federal and state governments have enacted over 80 separate pieces of anti-terrorism and anti-crime legislation. They've given the federal and state police a wide range of powers to snoop on everyone, to read our emails and our texts (remember metadata?), to detain people arbitrarily and question them without access to lawyers - and much more.

Well, boys, here's your chance! Go use your lovely technical toys to find the people who organised those rallies. Go infiltrate their social networks, read their emails, tap their phones. Find their leaders, take them in for a few weeks of questioning, and then throw the book at them. Let them rot for a couple of years in jail.

And do let us know how you get on, so we can see those laws put to good use.

It is sad that Floriade has been cancelled for a second time.

The good news is that the display will again go to town centres.

Last year the flower show in Gungahlin Place was magnificent, and a repeat each year of Canberra-wide Floriade displays would make the city even more of a spring tourist attraction.

Please stop overwhelming us with the Delta variant case numbers.

Rather, please let us have some answers to the following questions.

What percentage of the population of each state/territory is actually sick with the Delta variant?

What percentage of the population in each state/territory is in hospital?

What percentage of the population in each state/territory is in intensive care?

These figures would give a truer picture of the harm done by the Delta virus.

It is about time that our fearless politicians gave some leadership instead of lame excuses, buck-passing, and using medical experts as human shields at their daily press conferences.

What we need is an interim plan to organise a national vaccine day prior to Christmas.

We should then have a national vaccine day each year so that people could get their booster shots.

This Delta strain is going to be with us for some time to come.

This would give the community something to focus on and turn it into a community event. It could involve workplaces, community venues, and other facilities.

Of course, this requires some forward planning, and that is certainly in short supply when we look at our illustrious federal government which has poor form when it comes to dealing with challenges against humanity.

What grounds do we have for calling the current generation of Islamists in Afghanistan "terrorists"?

For the past 20 years we in the West have sought to impose our political, social and moral values on the country, and as the current situation clearly demonstrates we failed to secure the support of the majority of the population.

The fact that we might support "equal rights" for all sections of our community does not make that a universal right - so logically the West were the terrorists in Afghanistan.

Let the new rulers in Afghanistan govern as they see fit.

If the populace doesn't like it, then they should rise up and change "their" situation. Of course, should the new government in Afghanistan seek to export or impose their values on other nations, we should resist - violently if necessary.

But until then we should manage our relationship with them as we do with other nations having systems of government that we might disapprove of, such as China.

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