Lucy Carne: Australia’s COVID vaccine program must be fair and not another quarantine mess
Power, celebrity and wealth should not entitle people to elbow their way to the front of the COVID vaccine program ahead of the elderly, writes Lucy Carne.
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It’s a cognitive stretch, but try to cast your mind into the baffling, distant future that is March.
By then Australia’s vaccination program should hopefully be underway.
Whether it’s the more effective Pfizer jab or the more economical, Australian-made and easier to transport AstraZeneca stock, the assumption is that we will finally join the rest of the world in creating herd immunity with a COVID vaccine.
But if you thought quarantine exemptions were an ugly display of unfair and hypocritical rule bending for the wealthy and influential, brace yourself for the vaccine roll out.
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This has the potential to turn into the Boxing Day sales of inoculation.
Instead of shoppers fighting over discounted Steve Madden wedges, it will be the selfish who deem themselves most deserving sprinting to the front of the vaccine line ahead of the vulnerable and elderly.
“Concierge” medical centres in the US have been warned to stop illegally securing supplies, with the demand for private vaccines reportedly highest in Silicon Valley.
In Italy, the wealthy bought their injections before any doses were available to the general public; in Spain there has been outrage as politicians and well-connected officials got vaccinated while aged care homes missed out due to a shortage of vaccine deliveries; and wealthy Brits have offered private clinics $3500 in a desperate attempt to get their shot ahead of the elderly.
Likewise there was global outcry when South African billionaire Johann Rupert last month reportedly flew to a private clinic in Switzerland and was one of the first people to get a COVID jab ahead of Europe’s public release.
So some advice to those organising Australia’s vaccine queue: do not over-estimate our patience for stomaching unjust advantages for the one per cent.
We’ve had a gutful of watching the affluent (Dannii Minogue, Nicole Kidman, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg et al) avoid mandatory 14-day hotel detention to quarantine in private mansions while brain cancer survivors and children with autism are denied a reprieve.
We’re also sick of entitled VIPs like former supermodel Miranda Kerr who arrived from COVID-plagued LA yet was granted special exemption to leave quarantine to visit a sick relative.
That is a slap in the face of Sarah Caisip, 26, who was heartbreakingly barred from attending her father’s funeral and Marko Marttila, 48, who has had two exemption applications knocked back to farewell his dying mother.
Australia needs to vaccinate about 170,000 people a day to get 21 million Australians covered with 42 million doses by October.
It’s doable – the UK vaccinated more than two million people last week.
But who will be the first Aussies that go first?
Demands by Cricket Australia to have players receive early vaccinations ahead of the South Africa tour next month are outrageous.
Why would the health of a squad of 16 fit, young men (who would most likely be asymptomatic with COVID) be valued as more important than our elderly in aged care (who would most likely die from COVID)?
Likewise the plan for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, 52, Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt, 55, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, 57, and Shadow Health Minister Chris Bowen, 48, to receive an early jab is just as offensive.
“We’re not the priority but I think it’s important for a show of public confidence,” Mr Morrison said.
If the Queen, 94, Duke of Edinburgh, 99, David Attenborough, 94, Buzz Aldrin, 91, Joan Collins, 87, Judi Dench, 86, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 73, can wait their turn for a jab, so can we.
Australia’s vaccination program must prioritise over-80s, care home residents, frontline health and care workers (including the often-overlooked unpaid carers) and those deemed extremely vulnerable.
Next in line must be over-65s and people with risky conditions such as diabetes.
Sadly ageism bias has been the hallmark of COVID. About 75 per cent of deaths worldwide are people over 65 and many hospitals have refused to treat or revive elderly sufferers.
It is time we put our old people first.
Watching middle-aged politicians jump the queue to roll up their sleeves is unlikely to nudge the public into vaccinating.
Seeing our elderly bravely lead the way will.
The veterans of life who march into vaccination centres will be our grey army of hope.
If we have learnt anything from the quarantine exemption debacles, Australia’s vaccination allocation program must not just be swift and competent – it must also be fair.
Power, celebrity, arrogance and wealth should not entitle people to elbow their way to the front ahead of the elderly.
If we want this to work, we must ensure that privileged (needle) pricks do not infiltrate our vaccination rollout.
Originally published as Lucy Carne: Australia’s COVID vaccine program must be fair and not another quarantine mess
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