If there is one good thing that has come from the misery, frustration and, of course, health concerns surrounding Victoria's lockdown 4.0, it is the significant pick-up in Australia's COVID-19 vaccination rates in what remains to be a bedevilled national rollout.
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Victorians, in particular, have turned up to get the jab to the point of almost exhausting the state's vaccine supply. More is on the way with the federal government responding on Sunday by providing an extra 100,000 Pfizer vaccine doses from next week. There'll also be more AstraZeneca heading to GP clinics - a doubling of doses to 230,000 over two weeks.
But, while it is a resurgent wave during a time of crisis in one state, will it become a tide that will carry Australia where it needs to go?
"We want to see other states and territories have that same degree of public support and confidence," federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
"It is going well around the country but always we push for more."
The only legitimate path out of the pandemic, back to normality and opening Australia again is a successful vaccination program and success is - on the current trajectory - a while away. The big timeline question is: could it be done this year?
So how to hit targets for the rollout - that don't officially exist anymore - and get herd immunity, and therefore open borders, for Australia? At the start of the pandemic, health experts expected herd immunity could be reached at vaccinating 60 to 70 per cent - or even 85 per cent - of the population, but that is not universally accepted. And can AstraZeneca, with the ongoing safety concerns over a very small number of adverse blood clot reactions, be universally accepted?
There's potential for government in improving the rollout and for the individual in possible incentives.
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lifted a page from his time as immigration minister and is bringing in a Operation Sovereign Borders style "command-and-control" structure to the National Covid Vaccination Task Force to "scale up" the vaccine rollout. Like the border control operation against refugee boats, it will now be military-led in this case by Army chief Lieutenant General John 'JJ' Frewen.
Bringing in the military is not an admission, according to Mr Morrison, that the rollout is out of control, but it is clear that something needs to change. Other countries, with much larger populations, are far more advanced than Australia with their vaccination programs. And, of course, being more seriously impacted by the coronavirus has definitely played its part.
The United States has had more than 33 million cases and lost almost 600,000 citizens. The US President Joe Biden has a self-imposed deadline to get at least 70 per cent of the American population vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4. But while Americans had been turning out in force, the lines have started to ease up.
Mr Biden has now declared a "month of action" and is promising everything from free beer (if everyone reaches the target) to tickets to the Superbowl and Major League Baseball and free childcare while Americans get the jab. Elsewhere in the US, people have been enterprising: donuts, popcorn, even bonuses and paid days off work have also been offered.
There are fines or the loss of social aid in Indonesia if people refuse get COVID-19 jabs, while many countries have offered free food, music and even jewellery in the case of India. In Australia, the federal government has not officially backed the idea of incentives, but it has not ruled them out either.
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There are public awareness campaigns that are non-scary, but rather informative and encouraging. Asked recently about the idea of a lottery to encourage Australians, the federal Health Minister focused on what he regarded as the main game.
"The strongest reason is to avoid a lottery and it's to avoid the lottery of COVID and to avoid the lottery of death," he said. But asked last month, Mr Hunt indicated he was open to incentives down the track.
"Let us get through all of the population that wants to do this, as much as possible," he said. "And we're always looking at what's occurring."
"But then, the two great incentives to keep yourself and your community safe, but also to ensure that the more people that are vaccinated, the more will be able to travel and maintain our way of life."
Perhaps it is time to give, as something has to give.
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