While waiting for COVID-19 vaccines to be rolled out, Australian jurisdictions adopted strong social restrictions to minimise community transmission of the virus. It’s estimated that together, these public health measures spared around 50,000 lives up to December 2022 and that vaccines saved three times as many again.While this public health response the pandemic is described as one of the most effective in the world it did cause unintended social harms and lingering resentment. Our leaders and community need some sober reflection on how to we might respond to the next such pandemic respiratory virus. Over two podcasts we look carefully at the how the cost-benefit calculation stacks up for each of the major interventions. In Part 1 we discuss the international borders closures and overcooked parochialism between state jurisdictions, and also how messaging around vaccine risks and mandates could be improved. In Part 2 (to be released 6th April) we look at the controversial stay-at-home orders and interruptions to in-person schooling and even the evidence for faces-masks. Ultimately, there are some questions that can’t be answered scientifically, and it is for politicians and the public to decide what the cost of freedom and dignity against human lives left exposed. The esteemed panel of guests includes; Australia’s Chief Medical Officer at during the pandemic; one of the modelers advising the Federal government at the time; the epidemiologist in charge of the retrospective Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry and the Human Rights Commissioner who compiled her own report into the social legacy of our policy response.Part 1 Chapters6:46 Border Closures35:04 Vaccine Hesitancy GuestsProfessor Paul Kelly FRACP (Centenary Institute) Professor Catherine Bennett PhD GAICD (Deakin University) Professor James McCaw PhD (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne) Lorraine Finlay PhD (Australian Human Rights Commissioner)Production Produced by Mic Cavazzini DPhil. Music licenced from Epidemic Sound includes ‘End of the Ocean’ and ‘Raised by Wolves' by Tellsonic, ‘RGBA’ by Chill Cole, ‘Organic Textures 1’ by Johannes Bornlöf and ‘Echo (Kerstin Ljungstrom Remix)’ by Bonsaye. Image by mrs licenced from GettyImages.Add Part 1 to MyCPD as educational activity or visit web page for a transcript and references.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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