Thread by @CrabbBrendan

Globally and locally, we have a casual attitude to Covid cases; ‘focus on reducing hospitalisation/death’ is the common mantra. The result is ongoing waves as big as ever, huge disease burden in the un-vaccinated and the certainty of new variants. 1/

Today’s news from South Africa is a wake up call to this. It may itself be a false alarm, desperately hope so, but there is no doubt we will see more variants with the current policy settings. 2/

So: (1) cases matter, we must bring the global burden down (2) extreme vaccine-inequity is a major driver of high cases (3) we are totally interconnected, what happen in one continent equally effects the others 3/

(4) 2-dose regimen is likely ‘partial vax’, everyone needs 3 (4) vaccines are not enough, masks & clean air crucial for everyone (5) an attitude of innovation, investment, sharing and cooperation that recognises that the pandemic is not over 4/

Australia has been generous in the region. But our interconnectedness means we must do more throughout the world. Substantial increase in support for rolled-gold ‘pooled’ mechanisms of COVAX and ACT-A is a big positive step Oz can take - see endcovidforall.com 5/end