When in doubt, defer to authority — and by authority, I mean anyone with a “Dr” in front of their name. This has been a running theme of Australia’s response to COVID-19.
The benefit of relying on “the best medical advice” is that there is always an expert who will provide the required viewpoint. State premiers could usually rely on their chief medical officers; CMOs were routinely wheeled out to justify whatever decision the premiers believed would win them the next election. The Victorian government also relied on one or two of its favoured epidemiologists (like Tony Blakely or Nick Scott from the Burnet Institute).
Health Minister Greg Hunt and Prime Minister Scott Morrison are no strangers to blaming their awful decisions on medical advice. Yesterday, Hunt defended the government’s decision to only purchase three vaccines on expert advice. The health minister suggested that the federal government “followed the medical advice and we have followed the advice of Australia’s leading professionals and these include people such as the scientific and technical advisory group”.
The leading medical professionals Hunt referred to include Brendan Murphy (a kidney expert before becoming a hospital administrator), Alan Finkel (a brilliant millionaire who founded a technology company before becoming Australia’s chief scientist) and Larry Marshall (another superstar scientist who made millions inventing the “eye-safe” laser).
These are all exceptional people, but they are not vaccination experts or epidemiologists. In any event, their advice, if heeded, didn’t appear particularly insightful given Australia currently ranks 90th in global vaccinations — just ahead of Bangladesh.
Hunt, naturally, hasn’t released the advice provided by the expert panel, but it seems strange that they would suggest buying so few vaccines. And it’s less of a medical decision than it is an economic one: that is, how should Australia best allocate its resources?
Given how much the federal government has donated to various AFR Rich List members by way of an almost totally unregulated JobKeeper, it doesn’t take a Productivity Commission report to conclude that spending another couple of billion on vaccines is likely to be a higher ROI than lashing tens of billions on corporate welfare. Instead of tooling up an mRNA facility or ordering 25 million doses of Johnson & Johnson, Scotty and Josh effectively gave Solly Lew and Gerry Harvey a few hundred million for a new Gulfstream.
Researchers have estimated that Australia’s slower vaccine rollout means we are at risk of enduring 34 more days of lockdown. And, as the head of international relations in Israel’s health ministry Dr Asher Salmon noted back in January, the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine is “ridiculously low” in comparison to the economic damage brought on by lockdowns.
Sadly, it doesn’t appear that our experts understood the same maths.
According to the above article, “Yesterday, Hunt defended the government’s decision to only purchase three vaccines on expert advice”. No doubt this is true. But what kind of “experts” is he referring to? You see, in December last year the Belgian budget state secretary let the cat out of the bag re the prices of the various vaccines. A shot of AZ was about $2.78. A shot of Pfizer was $18.76. So I’m guessing the “experts” who pushed Australia to gamble on the AZ option were the bean counters, the brilliant economic managers of the coalition. Sadly, like everything else, you get what you pay for.
We now have a situation where many people are nervous about the AZ option. They wonder how the physiology of a 51 year old can be so different from that of a 49 year old. They might well wonder why the government is so willing to spend $19 on the under 50s and only $3 on the elderly. They will note as well that our PM jumped to the head of the queue to get his$19 jab.
As important as the deployment of current Covid vaccines will be agility in accessing vaccines tailored to the virus’s mutations as they continue to arise. The most reliable way forward is to ensure self-sufficiency in the rapid development and production of mRNA vaccines. Unfortunately the focus of political class on their self-interest has severely limited the time and the energy needed to deliver outcomes that advance the national interest.
As a Doctor / Professor, Brendan Murphy would make a good politician.
Instead of straight talk, we get more Government talking points from him.
It’s obvious the vaccine rollout has been a debacle. With all his medical and scientific knowledge, you’d think Murphy might like to stop taking us for mugs.
It stinks of arrogance.
Not all doctors are exceptional, Dr Strangelove comes to mind.
I know a Dr Andrew Laming, who I would not recommend, even as a GP.
I wouldn’t let Laming near my dog.
I once asked Laming to have a look at my dog’s limp.
He replied “I’m not an animal doctor”.
I winked and said “The dog won’t know….”.
Nice
Laming has Diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology, maybe he should have been in charge of the Higgins case.
I certainly would keep my knees together and insist no cameras allowed if I did have to go see him.
Does Scott Morrison let Jen and his girls go near him?
Scotty would use someone like Benny Hinn and his magic coat for Jen and kids. (1) Benny Hinn and the magic coat – YouTube
Maybe he could take over Dutton’s job or Mick Fuller’s or AFP.
We need more of Benny Hinn and his sports coat.
That would at least raise the IQ points, Hinn is very intelligent when it comes to scamming people.
DrS was, to be fair, exceptional.
I liked him to until he spilt the beans on the Doomsday Machine.
Indeed, 50% are below average in fact.
They may have followed the medical advice but did they follow ALL the medical advice, or cherry pick it like the Respect@Work report? I’m sure the medical advice said get AZ and Pfizer, but is that all it said?
Most Countries signed contracts with at least 5 different suppliers, to ensure little to no hold-ups in the supply chain.
Given Brenden Murphy’s various contradictory statements in the early stages, how can anyone extend much trust in his pronouncements.He appears to be captive to Morrison’s needs