Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews, has hinted at mandating a fourth and fifth dose of the Covid vaccine, saying additional mandates are “only a matter of time.”
Andrews was responding to comments made by the Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, who said he would not support mandating a booster shot.
The Premier shrugged off Guy’s remarks, saying he’s mandated to follow the advice of his “experts,” which may include mandating a fourth and fifth shot.
Andrews said:
Mandates are here. We didn’t get to 93 percent without mandates…
You know what’s mandatory? Following the advice of experts. So, I really don’t have anything else to say about anything he said today. I’ll follow the advice of experts. And I think we’re very close to a situation where the relevant federal bodies will determine that three doses is what’s considered fully protected.
As for fourth and fifth, let’s wait and see how this goes. Being vaccinated saves lives.
The notion that this is somehow a bad thing – the people who, would at least like to be considered part of the mainstream are essentially getting themselves very confused and almost adopting some of this antivax language. That just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Vaccines work. That’s why—yes, sadly, we’ve had some people who’ve past away, and again, we send our deepest sympathies to their families, but it would be thousands and thousands more, particularly, given the wildly infectious nature of this Omicron variant, if we hadn’t got to 93 percent, and if we weren’t out there every day pushing boosters—or really, what should be referred to as ‘third doses.’
The term ‘booster’ kind of gives people the impression that this is an optional extra. It’s not. All the evidence supports that. It’s only a matter of time before the decision comes down to formalise that.
