Opinion: What’s really stopping you from getting the jab?

There’s a path back to normal and every one of us holds the keys to making it a very long journey, or a short trip. So what’s really holding us back from getting vaccinated, asks Neale Maynard.

Remember normal? When we could travel overseas, when state borders stayed permanently open, when a chance encounter with someone on an escalator didn’t mean potentially being exposed to one of the most deadly viruses around?

There’s a path back to normal - or relative normal - and every one of us holds the keys to making it a very long journey, or a short trip.

Social distancing, hygiene, lockdowns and other practical issues have helped control COVID’s toll here, but mass vaccinations offer the best chance of returning to normal in the shortest possible time.

The problem is, not enough of us have had the jab, or even booked in for a vaccination. And today The Courier-Mail revealed that 10,000 Queenslanders who’d had their first vaccine injection were overdue for their second. 

Considering that COVID-19 is the greatest public health risk the world has seen in a century that’s astonishing.

We also reported that just 4.6 per cent of Queenslanders aged above 16 had been fully vaccinated.

Federal health data earlier this week indicated that about 14,000 people had been vaccinated in Queensland in 24 hours, and a check again this morning revealed a similar number received the vaccine yesterday.

So, 14,000 sounds like a lot ... until you check the ‘Qld’s Vaccination Progress’ tracker on the home page of couriermail.com.au.

It says that around 460,000 doses of vaccine have been delivered in Queensland. But with a population of more than five million, and so few people vaccinated, at current rates it will take almost a year before everyone has the protection that the vaccine will provide.

One of the issues appears to be that as well as understandable anxiety caused by side-effects (like the blood clots associated with a relatively small number of Astra Zeneca recipients) there’s confusion around the vaccination process itself, particularly around appointments.

Your GP might reach out to you to invite you to book a vaccination appointment, or they might not - so if you reach out to your GP, or to one of the vaccine centres (which you can find here), you’ll speed up the process. If ever there was a time to be proactive, it’s now. 

If you’re aged 40-59 (or aged 16-59 if you’re Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander), you can currently book a Pfizer vaccination. If you’re 16 or over and have an underlying medical condition you can also book in. If you’re 60 or older, you’re still eligible for the Astra Zeneca vaccine which is being phased out of the rollout later this year.

And once you’re vaccinated, the other thing you can do is encourage friends and family to get the jab.

Normal depends on it.