Amid Djokovic backlash, Australia grapples with omicron wave

“Vaccination alone isn’t good enough,” says epidemiologist Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia. “We haven’t got enough vaccines for youngsters,” says Esterman, who previously worked for the World Health Organization. “It’s a little unfortunate that the opening up of the country coincided almost perfectly with the omicron outbreak starting around the world.” In recent months, the government has pivoted from its longstanding “COVID-zero” approach to a “live with it” approach, leaving many Australians confused. “I’ve got friends in London, because I lived in London, and I sense the smirk that they have now looking at Australia.” Australia’s slow start to its booster program has left the population vulnerable to omicron, and has also increased the chances that its omicron wave will not decline as rapidly as other countries, says epidemiologist Dr. Nancy Baxter, head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at Melbourne University. “We could manage the wave, but there’s no political will to do so,” Baxter says.Fury and fear prompted former Australian human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti to pen an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald this week, detailing the terror he felt when his two immunocompromised grandchildren become ill with COVID-19 after Christmas, two weeks before they were eligible for the vaccine.