news
A vial of the AstraZeneca / Oxford Covid-19 vaccine . Picture : Nikolay Doychinov / AFP
Give it away
Vaccinate at-risk Aussies then send supplies to countries in need : experts .
Vaccinate the most at-risk Australians – then send surplus supplies to countries that need them .
That ’ s the message from ethics researcher Dr Ben Bramble and infectious diseases specialist Professor Peter Collignon .
The pair , from Australian National University , argued in an article for The Guardian that Australia ’ s goal of vaccinating as many Australians against COVID-19 as quickly as possible was not the strategy the world needs now .
“ Vaccinate our most vulnerable citizens , health workers and hotel quarantine staff immediately – no question about that ,” they said . “ As for the rest of us ? We can wait .”
Bramble and Collignon said the likelihood of Australia opening its borders hinged on the success of the global vaccination project .
“ We will vaccinate everyone in Australia – let those at-risk people in poorer countries get it before our healthy 30-year-olds here , while we ’ re able to keep the virus under control .”
The authors said Australia has enough contracted supplies of coronavirus vaccines to inoculate the entire population three times .
“ That ’ s the kind of hoarding problem among rich countries that the World Health Organization has been warning us about .”
The government recently confirmed it had doubled Australia ’ s order of the
Pfizer vaccine , striking a deal for a further 10 million doses .
Secretary of the Department of Health Professor Brendan Murphy told national cabinet that the government may now be able to broaden access to the Pfizer vaccine depending on when the extra doses arrived onshore .
Tests suggested the jab had a higher efficacy rate than the AstraZeneca version , but Murphy said both were “ extremely effective ” at reducing serious illness .
“ It ’ s made locally and we ’ ll have plentiful supply ,” he said .
Bramble and Collignon said Australia “ should export much of the AstraZeneca vaccine we are making now in Melbourne to countries that need it more than us – as either sales or foreign aid .
“ With the capacity to produce a million doses of the highly transportable AstraZeneca vaccine every week , Australia has a special responsibility here .
“ If rich countries like Australia don ’ t export any of the vaccines they produce , then poor countries aren ’ t going to get much at all for quite a while .” ■
Above and beyond
Nurse crawls from car wreck , still makes her shift .
An American nurse involved in a 1.5 mile long car pile-up crawled out of the wreckage of her car and went straight to her shift .
Photo : AFP photo / Fort Worth Fire Department
Rebecca Benson described the scene that left six dead and 36 people injured as something out of a “ zombie movie ”.
The crash occurred on the I-35 freeway after a night of freezing rain in the Fort Worth area . Benson was on her way to work at a north Texas hospital at around 6.30am when her car began to slide due to icy roads and she ended up crashed alongside 100 other vehicles .
“ I ’ m trying to not spin out and to figure out if I can stop . I mean , my foot was as close to going through the floorboard as it possibly could be ,” Benson told ABC ’ s World News Tonight .
Benson said she could only look on as the scene unfolded and was shaking as car after car joined the pile up .
“ I looked in my rear-view mirror and can see all of these cars heading towards me . So I think that was the scariest part , knowing that I survived this part but now the chances of me getting completely smashed by all the cars and semis behind me ,” she told ABC .
Benson was helped from her car by another motorist , called a colleague who was nearby and got a lift to the hospital in time to make her shift .
She eventually got a check-up by doctors at the urging of her husband and escaped with minor injuries .
“ I have neck pain , shoulder pain , and my left elbow is bruised to the high heavens and , you know , typical aches and pains that you would have . But I am unbelievably blessed .” ■
nursingreview . com . au | 5