V for vaccine

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, February 22nd, 2021 - 30 comments
Categories: covid-19, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, uk politics, us politics - Tags: ,

The Covid pandemic is entering into an interesting stage.

In America and in England new infection rates are plummeting after hitting post Christmas highs.

The American reduction is understandable.  They now have a President who accepts the science and is willing to listen to the scientific advice.

The United Kingdom still has the same buffoon in control however.

America and the UK are rolling out the vaccination program.  In the UK just over a quarter of the population have received the vaccine and in the US the figure is just under one in five.

This may suggest that the vaccine is having the desired effect although Israel, which has vaccinated over four fifths of its population and the United Arab Emirates where over half the population have been vaccinated, still show worrying levels of infection.  Israel’s treatment of Palestinians shows how interlinked the countries of the world are and how to beat this we will have to solve it in all countries.  The UAE’s reason are more complex but no doubt Dubai’s status as a tourism hot spot is contributing to the infection rate.

In Australia Scott from marketing has been one of the first to receive the vaccine along with an elderly rest home resident.  But his attempt at a photo op went disastrously wrong.

From James Law at news.com.au:

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was among the first Australians to receive the Covid-19 vaccination in Sydney today, but the historic moment dissolved into giggles when Morrison’s attempt at a photo op went wrong.

Jane Milysiak of Marayong was selected to be the first to receive the jab and she did so alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Castle Hill Medical Centre in Sydney’s northwest on Sunday morning.

She was all smiles as she received the injection, seated next to Morrison in a face mask emblazoned with the Australian flag.

Like any good politician, Morrison is not one to miss a photo opportunity, so after she received the jab he encouraged her to flash the peace sign for the cameras, saying it meant “V for vaccine”.

After a confused few moments, Jane obliged, but turned her hand the other way and inadvertently flipped the nation the bird.

The room erupted into laughter, and the PM quickly pushed Jane’s hand down, saying “always front, always front”.

The truth be told it may as well have been Scomo himself flipping the bird at the nation, something he has been doing ever since he became Prime Minister.

I am not sure about the optics of the Prime Minister being the first to get the jab.  I am pretty sure Jacinda Ardern would wait her turn.  In New Zealand the vaccinators themselves and border workers are at the front of the queue getting the vaccination first and this is how it should be.

And in New Zealand we also had an attempt at gaining media relevance by a right wing politician.  Fresh from his success in wrongly predicting Auckland would remain in level 3 for at least several more days Bishop went high and proposed the construction of purpose designed quarantine and managed isolation facilities away from Auckland Central.

He is claiming that the facility could be built on vacant land near Auckland Airport.  The biggest block of vacant land that is not directly under the  flight path to the airport is Ihumātao.  Surely Chris is not recommending we use this land?

The village would take time to design, consent and build.  I suspect that by that stage the vaccine would render the facility surplus to requirements.  But it still makes a good headline.

The next 12 months will be interesting.  And while the last 12 months were filled with dread dare I say that the appropriate emotion now may be hope.

30 comments on “V for vaccine ”

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  1. mikesh 1
    22 February 2021 at 9:35 am

    I don't think Bishop's suggestion that a dedicated facility could be used for housing, once a pandemic was over, is a good one. Such a facility could be used for other purposes in between pandemics, but we wouldn't want to see a whole lot of tenants being evicted each time a new pandemic made its appearance.

    • mac1 1.1
      22 February 2021 at 11:20 am

      I've got a better idea. Why don't we use hotels that aren't being used during a pandemic and then, after the pandemic is over, go back to using these former hotels as………. hotels!

      • Treetop 1.1.1
        22 February 2021 at 12:16 pm

        Do you mean to house the homeless and those who are a night away from being homeless?

        I think emergency housing needs to change from 7 days to 28 days as 7days is to disruptive. I am basing this on emergency accommodation being for 7 days at a time.

    • woodart 1.2
      22 February 2021 at 12:19 pm

      with nats track record of selling public assets to their friends,I can see this very expensive ,publically funded white elephant sold off cheaply to a slum landlord, who would then rent it back to the gov at a huge profit, If it ever became needed again. better to stick with keeping hotels used and funded. bishop should go back to being a shill for tobacco, obviously doesnt think things through.

  2. Craig H 2
    22 February 2021 at 9:42 am

    NZ could do worse than a dedicated quarantine facility particularly if it also had a dedicated medical wing/building and some form of ICU (is that even feasible?), but what would it be used for between pandemics? There's always a danger it gets used more because it exists, so, for example, we start quarantining measles cases, or as emergency housing or alternatively we just mothball it between crises and fail to fund operational readiness properly, leading to it being useless when something does appear.

    Not a fan of ScoMo, but he probably thought it useful to show the nation that it’s not that dangerous – putting his money where is mouth is, so to speak. I’m sure the PM and Dr Bloomfield will do the same, albeit probably not until another batch of vaccines have been received since the first batch is completely allocated.

  3. Incognito 3
    22 February 2021 at 9:50 am

    Did Auckland have a lockdown after the recent Pullman cases?

    Was the current lockdown because of a breach at one of the MIQs?

    I’m a little surprised that Bishop hasn’t suggested that returnees sleep in cars – separate ventilation and inbuilt entertainment systems; they seem to be quite comfortable with that in the past.

    • Pat 3.1
      22 February 2021 at 9:56 am

      Must be a lot of underused campervans around….was Nationals solution post quakes in ChCh

      • Incognito 3.1.1
        22 February 2021 at 11:17 am

        Plenty of empty shipping containers. If it is good enough to ‘isolate’ prisoners. The National Party has had some many good ideas in the past. What happened, they seem to have lost their mojo?

  4. fender 4
    22 February 2021 at 9:56 am

    Has that twit Morrison admitted he was wrong when he stated NZ wouldn't be getting vaccines before April I'm wondering…

  5. AB 5
    22 February 2021 at 10:15 am

    Anybody who suggests building a new quarantine facility – at exactly the same time that you are scrambling to control an actual pandemic – is nuts. Could you come up with a better recipe for spreading yourself so thin that you cock up both initiatives? Also the timeframes don't match – by the time the new facility is built, the current pandemic will be in retreat or under control.

    When we are pretty much out of this pandemic, there will be a review of the national pandemic response plan. That review might recommend building a dedicated facility – though knowing what scale to build it at, and planning for staffing if it is out in the wops, would be a challenge. Almost certainly we would err on the side of building it too small – so that in a large pandemic it would lack sufficient capacity and we would be back to using hotels. Also a challenge would be future National governments either neglecting its maintenance between pandemics, or selling it to their private sector mates for bargain basement prices…

  6. Ad 6
    22 February 2021 at 11:52 am

    I was always told that reversing your V sign was for something else entirely.

  7. Treetop 7
    22 February 2021 at 12:38 pm

    When it comes to Covid-19 I feel that those who are vaccinated will find it easier than those who are not vaccinated to travel to another country.

    Is vaccination for Covid-19 going to be mandatory before entry into another country?

    • McFlock 7.1
      22 February 2021 at 1:34 pm

      Some countries, almost certainly. which ones, nobody knows. Might even be NZ.

      • Treetop 7.1.1
        22 February 2021 at 5:38 pm

        Some countries might even have no vaccination programme. Those that do not and the citizens of the country who cannot afford immunisation and want it then what?

  8. Sanctuary 8
    22 February 2021 at 1:25 pm

    I wondered if we couldn't re-open Kingseat as a specialist quarantine facility if it is any sort of half decent material condition.

    As for the PM & other key decision making people getting vaccinated – just tell people that the political leadership is vitally important and so that justifies a queue jump and get on with it.

    • AB 8.1
      22 February 2021 at 1:40 pm

      The 'value proposition' of this place (which in my opinion is an insult to the suffering of former inhabitants) is that Kingseat is derelict. At least it looks derelict – and I'd have some doubts that existing buildings could be re-purposed even if they are structurally sound. The site however would make sense as it wouldn't be impossible to staff.

  9. Jackel 9
    22 February 2021 at 6:49 pm

    Yeah whatever Bishop. And maybe we could build a preventative detention prison for repeat lame ideas offenders on the opposition benches.