THE SQUIZ
The vaccination debate took a nasty new turn yesterday with the leaders from Victoria, Western Oz and Queensland claiming their states have lost out to NSW via the “secret” allocation of Pfizer vaccine doses. “I did not sign up, and no Victorians signed up, to a national plan to vaccinate Sydney,” Victoria’s Daniel Andrews said. The Federal Government is in charge of buying and distributing vaccines, and it rejects the claim. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said “I get the sense that some people are looking for a fight. We’re not.”

SO WHAT’S GOING ON?
So, back to basics… As the outbreak of the Delta strain proved difficult to shake off, our national leaders agreed NSW should get access to its Pfizer vaccine allocation brought forward. That’s happening, and state-run vaccination hubs and 260 GP practices have been administering the jabs focusing on the ‘areas of risk’ in south and western Sydney. Then on Monday night, ABC TV’s 7.30 pointed out the effect of bringing forward that supply – per head of capita, NSW has been getting more Pfizer doses than other states. None of that’s particularly earth-shattering… But yesterday, Andrews and others claimed NSW has received more supply than has been publicly disclosed – and they want the imbalance to be addressed quick smart. For PM Scott Morrison’s part, he says there’s no secret deal with NSW, and they’ve sourced more Pfizer vaccines from Poland, the UK and Singapore so all states can get their doses ASAP.

DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA…
And it didn’t stop there… Also feeling the heat was singer Guy Sebastian after he apologised to fans yesterday for social media posts backing the entertainment industry’s #VaxTheNation campaign. Sebastian said it was done without his knowledge, and he would “never, ever tell people what to do when it comes to their personal health choices”. Cue a savaging on talkback radio… Fellow singer and vaccination enthusiast Ben Lee tweeted that the episode was a “sad example of what happens when your career is dependent on trying to be all things to all people”. Ouch…