@Mr. Krinkle
You make a number of good points, as usual. I realize that the rest of the world is looking at the Melbourne/Sydney situation and saying WTF. So am I. It's crazy. But that's a new thing for Australia. Melbourne has been in the top 10 most liveable cities for decades. Part of what contributes to that (IMO) is our stance on COVID.
It sucks for me that Australia is trying to maintain it's gold standard at any cost, but - at the same time - we need to follow our trajectory the same way the USA needs to follow theirs.
We are not the land of the free. I'm okay with that. There are lots of other good things about Australia. I would rather live here., and... honestly, the pandemic situation actually concreted that.
Australia is over-reacting to this virus. The United States under-reacted.
Which one is more dangerous when the next pandemic occurs?
Show me your country uniting.
...
As for the flu shots, there certainly have been anaphylactic reactions and deaths and all sorts of adverse side effects from many vaccines including influenza vaxxes.
This source is as solid as your JFK Jr source.
You said they were under-reporting the adverse reactions.
The risk of death is 1 in a million. The risk of long-term illness is (from my understanding) basically zero for many of the vaccines, and we've
just developed them. That's hardly a disaster, yet there is a lot of uproar about the side effects.
Your contributions to this thread, for example, are (IMO) disproportionate to the actual threat from these vaccines... in the same way - I'm sure - you can see that the fear surrounding the actual virus is disproportionate to the threat COVID actually poses?
I'm done with being annoyed by anti-vaxxers. It actually makes no difference if Australian anti-vaxxers don't get jabbed. They don't need to get jabbed. Every new case in Victoria is basically a new vaccinated person (assuming they survive). Natural immunity is at least as good as two jabs.
Looking at NSW (who plateaued then dropped and are now opening up early) our vaccination rates are high enough already. There is no stopping us.
Somehow, though, I imagine this all happening again next year with another mutation.
Maybe the Australian people are too agreeable.
I can't do this all again.
I went to the Shrine of Remembrance the other day and police were patrolling everywhere. There were squads of them, questioning people and handing out fines. This is not the Australia I know and love. I'm conflicted about it. My assumption is: this is temporary.