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Victorians have woken up this morning to the first day of a week-long lockdown. While there’s not much to celebrate, one thing we might see as a silver lining is the fact this outbreak has seen record numbers of Victorians turn up for a vaccination. And the state has opened up eligibility to the 40-49 age group.
It’s no secret Australia’s vaccine rollout up until now has been slow and troubled. As Catherine Bennett writes today, it might be time to rethink our current phased approach. While it makes sense to prioritise those at greater risk of exposure and infection, a range of complications mean this model is not serving us so well anymore.
Vaccinating younger adults will be crucial for population-level protection, especially if the virus is circulating in the community. Of course, there would be logistical challenges associated with expanding vaccine access, mainly around supply issues with the Pfizer vaccine. We’d also need to ensure not to detract from people in the priority groups – like residents in aged and disability care – still waiting.
Meanwhile, Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton says the Indian variant responsible for Melbourne’s outbreak is more infectious than the original strain. One person could infect five others or more.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the variant, writes Fiona Russell and her colleagues, but we can get some clues from a genetically similar strain which is dominant in India and emerging in the UK.
Since January 2020 we have published more than 1,800 articles on COVID-19 by 1,760 academics which have been read over 104 million times.
Our research-based news has helped clarify, and sometimes debunk, dodgy health claims and kept Australians safe and well-informed. But as a non-profit newsroom, we can’t continue to do this vital work without support from readers.
If you’ve already given to our 2021 donations campaign, thank you! If not, please donate to The Conversation today. Help ensure health news in Australia is based on evidence, not alarm.
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Phoebe Roth
Deputy Editor, Health+Medicine
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Morgan Sette/AAP
Catherine Bennett, Deakin University
We want to get everybody vaccinated. Opening up to younger age groups could be one way to speed things up — but it will come with logistical challenges too.
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Luis Ascui/AAP
Fiona Russell, The University of Melbourne; John Hart, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Katherine Gibney, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
The COVID-19 variant responsible for Victoria's latest outbreak is one of three Indian variant sub-types, which spreads more easily than the original strain. Here's what we know so far.
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AAP
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Australia's declaration that it still cares about Afghanistan, is undermined by it's decision to close the national embassy in Kabul.
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Marikit Santiago’s.
Filipiniana (self-portrait in collaboration with Maella Santiago Pearl)
AGNSW/Marikit Santiago
Joanna Mendelssohn, The University of Melbourne
A politician-free year to celebrate the centenary of the Archibald Prize includes plenty of artists' portraits and some notable change makers.
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haireena/Shutterstock
Paul Alexander, Curtin University
The sections of the Senate inquiry report dealing with Australia Post's future, should be the most interesting. But they are the least satisfying.
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AAP
Liam Phelan, University of Newcastle; Jacquie Svenson, University of Newcastle
The arguments in favour of radical emissions reduction action, including the personal financial risks, grow more compelling by the day.
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Dita Alangkara/AP
Jim Elmslie, University of Wollongong; Camellia Webb-Gannon, University of Wollongong
Tensions have been building over the last month following the killing of an Indonesian intelligence chief. The government has vowed to 'chase and arrest' all armed militants in the region.
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AAP
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato
Behind the smiles and the scenic backdrops there are serious issues on the table when Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern meet in Queenstown this weekend.
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Education
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John Hattie, The University of Melbourne
The review into teacher education announced by the Federal Education Minister in recent months was met with criticism from many. But it is actually a necessary part of reforming the education system.
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Ritesh Shah, University of Auckland
Palestinian children are resilient, but even they have been tested by the pandemic and now more military conflict. Securing their right to a safe education should be a priority.
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Environment + Energy
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Michael (Mike) Joy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
There is no doubt we need to stop emitting fossil carbon. But if we fixate on replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and don’t also reduce consumption and energy waste, we risk failure.
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David Schoeman, University of the Sunshine Coast; Brian Allan Hoover, Chapman University; William Sydeman, University of California San Diego
Seabirds journey vast distances across the Earth’s seascapes to find food and to breed. This means their biology, particularly their breeding success, can reveal what's happening in our oceans.
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Laura Schuijers, The University of Melbourne
The court described climate change as 'the greatest inter-generational injustice ever inflicted by one generation of humans upon the next'.
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Politics + Society
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Tony Walker, La Trobe University
The outcome for the Australian citizen cannot be viewed separately from the continued downward spiral of Australia-China relations.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly on Thursday changed the medical advice as the government rushed to vaccinate those Victorian aged care residents and workers who remained unprotected.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Michelle Grattan discusses the finding of Senate estimates with Katy Gallagher
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
Recent elections in Australia, the US and the UK have seen left-leaning parties lose votes among non-university educated whites. One way to win them back might be to disassociate from 'elite' opinion.
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Nicole Curtin, Charles Darwin University; Steven Bird, Charles Darwin University; Tracy Woodroffe, Charles Darwin University
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2021 is ‘More than a word: reconciliation takes action'. Engaging with Aboriginal knowledges is a way to pursue reconciliation as more than a buzzword.
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Arts + Culture
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Chris Gibson, University of Wollongong; Andrew Warren, University of Wollongong
Following scandals over illegal logging, and with an appetite for rare, old-growth wood, the guitar industry is rethinking its environmental footprint. Australian companies are leading the way.
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Science + Technology
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Richard Oloruntoba, Curtin University; Nik Thompson, Curtin University
Cybersecurity for pipelines and ports is too important to leave unregulated.
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Megan Munsie, The University of Melbourne; Melissa Little, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
The International Society for Stem Cell Research's newly released guidelines aim to address new ethical challenges posed by stem cell advances such as model embryos and human-monkey hybrid embryos.
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Business + Economy
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Richard Holden, UNSW
Businesses won't employ more people unless they are prepared to invest. Figures out on Thursday suggest they are.
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Julie P. Smith, Australian National University; Mathilde Cohen, University of Connecticut; Tanya M. Cassidy, Dublin City University
New European laws aimed at regulating trade in human milk products could be used to target person-to-person sharing of milk for babies.
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Health + Medicine
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Matthew Ankers, Flinders University; Yvonne Parry, Flinders University
Nurse practitioners can be the missing link between homeless children, housing services and schools, our study shows.
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Alison Poulton, University of Sydney
It's quite OK to leave medication as a last resort — but it can be a very useful last resort.
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