The hall No evidence required
Decreases transmission
The TGA listed transmission under unknowns. The minister listed it as the switch.
The more people that we vaccinate and the higher that vaccination rate in that wider community, it decreases transmission in the community.
Greg Hunt, 2 September 2021, press conference: vaccinate more, the rate goes up, “it decreases transmission in the community. It protects children.”
A fortnight earlier, Scott Morrison on the Doherty National Plan: above 70 and 80 per cent, lockdowns do “more harm than good.” Asked if they end: “highly unlikely and targeted.”
This card files that switch. It does not file “vaccines never cut severe disease.”
What did have a receipt:
- TGA, 25 January 2021: unclear if the vaccine reduces transmission. Same unknowns page as the 95 per cent.
- Doherty underwrote the plan. One of its architects, James McCaw, told the Guardian case numbers were too high to drop lockdowns even at 70%. The slogan was the percentage. The modeller was still counting cases.
- Omicron later ran through a double-dosed country. Transmission was not a switch that flipped at 80.
Grammar: decreases, community, 80%. Logic: unknown on approval day is not a National Plan lever. Rhetoric: highly unlikely.