The Australian government is working with two major pharmaceutical companies to facilitate the local production and supply of two different COVID-19 vaccines – if they’re proven to be effective.
Opera Australia has been hit hard by the pandemic’s economic impact. It’s time to rethink our approach to funding opera, with a focus on local companies.
Three principles are missing from Victoria’s approach: a recognition of global best practices, a breadth of expertise and an ability to look at the long-term consequences of its decisions.
More than 170 countries have signed up to the Global Access (COVAX) initiative, but vaccine hoarding has already begun by many wealthy countries — leaving poorer nations potentially in the lurch.
Melbourne’s Innovation Districts were launched a few years ago, but the impacts of COVID-19 have added urgency to having places to trial new ways of urban living.
Overall, Victoria’s roadmap is good. It identifies the right goal, provides explicit criteria for when restrictions might be lifted, and involves mostly appropriate restrictions.
Low-paid workers at both ends of the supply chain – the small farmers who grow most of the crop and the casual staff who serve you at the cafe – weren’t well off even before the pandemic hit.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand