After enjoying a couple of months of “relative” normality, including Fun Fridays, having dinner at a restaurant, and watching a film at the theatre, we are back in a “snap circuit-breaker” lockdown that has been going for 12 days.
Unfortunately, our isolated country has not been able to keep out the highly transmissible variant first identified in India – now known as the delta variant. Given our relatively slow vaccination rollout and to avoid a calamity authorities have correctly ordered the latest Level 4, lockdown! Typically, toilet paper was wiped off supermarket shelves as soon the announcement was made on the 27th of May, 2021.
On the note of vaccinations some countries are doing remarkably well with over 2 billion vaccinations having been administered around the world! With Israel leading the way, many countries are now heading towards the numbers required (70-80%), for herd immunity, and the US over 50% of the population has now been vaccinated. Indeed, the US is almost enjoying a return to “normality” with mask mandates eased and numerous sporting events now having live audiences, some at capacity. For example, in a recent event in Miami, the Hard Rock stadium was at ~50 capacity (capacity ~65,000), to witness a unique “boxing” show between the World’s best and an inexperienced Youtuber!
Unfortunately in Australia, approximately 2.2% of the population is currently fully vaccinated. There are a couple of reasons: 1) vaccine availability has been low and it is difficult to decipher who is eligible and for which vaccine, and 2) we largely committed (at level of production), to the AstraZeneca vaccine and (although side effects are extremely rare), there is hesitancy. People prefer to wait for the more popular and effective mRNA-based vaccines. Currently, in Melbourne (Victoria), people aged between 40-49 are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine; significant numbers of additional doses of the Pfizer (and Moderna) vaccines have been secured and most likely, hesitancy will be alleviated.
In the meantime, we are in lockdown, India is gradually easing lockdowns, and variants are causing issues a number of countries, including our neighbours Thailand and Malaysia. So… although we can feel and see the “end”, we’re not there quite yet!
Hopefully we can reach herd immunity and “normality” before any “super-escape variant” arises and sets us back some more! For now patience in lockdown for us … and hope!
Until next time …