Howdy Boomers and greetings from my lockdown to yours, unless of course you are not in lockdown but happen to be living in one of those mythical places called freedom. And that my friends will be my only reference to this lockdown as there is nothing new to say or do other than to scream and shout, to argue the toss about too little too late, or to repeatedly bang one’s head on the home mini-bar.

Some good Covid-19 news!

Anti-vaxxers and fellow travellers such as anti-lockdowners are certainly loud. Based on the number of people taking to the streets over the weekend to voice their distain for lockdowns and vaccines, they are coming out in a big way. Thankfully they are having little success with the age groups on the frontline of this pandemic. We Boomers are resisting their calls in very impressive numbers. The data coming out of the US, the UK and locally in the ACT gives us hope.

In the US, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than 89 per cent of those aged over 65 have had one jab and over 79 per cent are fully vaccinated. Not bad at all! As a aside, for those aged over 18 and below 65 the data is still good with more than 68 per cent having had one shot and more than 60 per cent being fully vaccinated. The good news in this bit of data is that even in a country riven by political division and plagued by anti-vaxxers, Boomers are getting the jab. The same appears to apply for both the UK and here at home in Australia.

Across the larger pond in the UK, the numbers are more impressive with 9 in 10 people aged 50 and over (93 per cent) fully vaccinated.

In the ACT, more than 79 per cent of those aged over 50 and a whopping 93 per cent of those over 70 have had their first jab. These figure may be inflated slightly given reports of border raids whereby enterprising Boomers from NSW are heading across the border for their jabs.

The average for those aged 60 and over across all States and Territories is over 60 per cent which is promising given how shoddy the vaccination rollout has been thus far. Unfortunately, the number of people over the age of 70 that are fully vaccinated is abysmally low, particularly in NSW, but that is a story for another time.

What swelled the ranks of the protests in Sydney?

As an aside, I wonder how much the construction industry’s whining and carping about the shutdown of the construction sector swelled the ranks of the protests in Sydney - remember the truckies convey/slow crawl through the CBD as a protest just after the announcement? Only a couple of days before the protests, the construction industry warned of: "catastrophic" consequences if the current two-week shutdown of building sites in NSW is extended. In the same article, the Australian Constructors Association CEO went on to say that it was likely that: "quite a high number of companies would fold." While we all applaud strong advocacy for the protection of rights and jobs, did this over-the-top response have the intended/unintended consequence of driving tradies and others into the arms of the anti-vaxxers?

Clip of the week.

Here is my clip for the week. Cheers and lots of them!