Vaccination woes keep on coming as mixed messages test our trust

I was surprised to learn on Wednesday that a friend aged 49 was fully vaccinated, having availed herself of the NSW facility at Olympic Park, which was open to her age group. The Pfizer vaccination has only a three-week wait between jabs. I, on the other hand, am a 65-year-old male, immune-compromised with asthma and a chronic arthritic condition. I received the first AstraZeneca shot from my doctor as soon as I could but now have to wait until August 17 for the second jab. By all accounts Pfizer is a better defence than AstraZeneca to the new strains of the virus. The rollout has been completely mismanaged by the federal government.

James Richardson, Paddington, NSW

Your editorial has important advice to scientists and those managing scientific projects (“Gain-of-function research risks”, 25/6). But all human endeavours, starting from a child learning to walk, carry a certain degree of risk. If the child is not allowed to learn to walk because of the risks involved, it will never walk. Risk-taking plays a big part in human progress. Every day of a scientist’s life is packed with risks and opportunities. Scientists must be allowed to carry on without restrictions because they are the only people who know most of the risks and opportunities involved in their projects.

Bill Mathew, Parkville, Vic

It is important your readers have the facts about the CSIRO and our research. Accusations around lack of transparency are misinformed and offensive to the researchers who have worked to safeguard Australia for the past century. Since the pandemic began, our researchers have worked tirelessly to help protect Australia. This has included preclinical testing of potential vac­cines, tracking emerging variants, monitoring wastewater to detect hot spots and supporting domestic manufacturing and testing of surgical masks.

CSIRO has never shied away from talking about its research, including with bats. This research underpins much of our understanding of infectious diseases and enabled us to help create a vaccine to treat Hendra virus. All infectious disease research is conducted in line with strict ethical, biosecurity and regulatory requirements, and is fully transparent and publicly available.

Our involvement in bat research was first raised by Sharri Markson last year. On April 28, 2020, I issued a statement that acknowledged research into bats underpins much of our understanding of zoonotic diseases, but that we don’t currently undertake research on live bats at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness. Bats can carry viruses like ebola and rabies without becoming sick. Understanding more about their immune system, the viruses they may carry and how these viruses affect them holds huge potential for how we might protect Australians. Infectious diseases need a global response. CSIRO has worked with China, the US and other countries on bat research because bat viruses in Asia pose a threat to Australia. CSIRO also works with Japan, Malaysia, France, Indonesia, India, the UK and Papua New Guinea on a range of other infectious diseases. All of this is done to help protect Australians from future pandemics. The speed of the response to Covid-19 has been attributed to excellent international scientific collaboration. We support the pursuit of knowledge, whether by scientists, the public or media, but this reporting is speculative and misleading.

Dr Larry Marshall, chief executive, CSIRO

Perhaps now travel restrictions have eased in Victoria, retired meteorologist William Kininmonth (Letters, 25/06) might like to do a spot of travel. Here are some suggestions: attempt to drive up to the Dandenongs where “unprecedented” storms brought down thousands of trees, then head to Mallacoota or Buchan where the 2019-20 fires tore through forests and farmland. On your way home call into Traralgon and Yallourn, where record level flooding left many hundreds homeless and farmers despairing, while almost shutting down the Yallourn power station and inundating the open cut mine. Last, drive over and talk to the locals in Inverloch, where the beach is eroding, leaving roads and homes at risk from storm damage. Nothing to be alarmed about? I don’t think so.

Brenda Tait, Kew, Vic

Charity clarity

In this paper on June 24, the Bob Brown Foundation was one of the charities supporting a full-page advertisement against preventing charities from public lobbying. Charities were described as supporting families through unprecedented crises, housing families, supporting people, rebuilding from disasters. Today (“ ‘Abysmal’ defeat for Brown on forests”, 25/6) you report on the foundation losing a High Court case to prevent native forest logging. Engaging in legal action to shut down the native forest industry cannot qualify as charity, and money donated to doing this should not be tax deductible.

Andrew Lang, Lismore, Vic