Australia cannot afford to be a hermit kingdom

Australia cannot afford to be a hermit kingdom

last week, G7 nations promised to deliver 1 billion doses of vaccine to poorer countries in the world. That is good news to get the world out from the threat of Covid-19. However, that is still far from solving the problem.

It is clear that the wealthy nations will soon be vaccinated and released from isolation probably by end of the year. The poorer nations are still struggling to get enough effective vaccines to protect their people. Prime Minister Scott Morrison while attending the G7 meeting held in the UK, pledged to donate 20 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Asia and Pacific islands in the global plan of G7. It is also seen as a political reaction of the western world to the vaccine diplomacy of China.

It is not known when these donated vaccines will be delivered. However few expect that will happen until a significant proportion of Australians have been vaccinated. The 14-days lockdown of Melbourne has seen a surge of people taking up vaccination. It is hoped that this momentum can be maintained.

Both federal and state governments need to improve the delivery and immunization procedures of vaccines to get more Australians be vaccinated. More encouragement and education about the necessity of vaccinations to make Australia “Covidnormal” should be done. Campaigns to counteract misinformation on various myths on vaccine should be stepped up as we see that more and more people have underestimated the harm and damage of Covid-19 to the health of people.

A more constructive way to promote vaccination should focus on the benefits that Australia can enjoy as a nation with a high degree of vaccination, like the freedom to open up to the whole world for tourism, international education, business and connecting with the world.

Australia cannot maintain as a hermit kingdom to survive in a world with the Covid virus.

Raymond Chow

Publisher, BlessingCALD