Australians are “unlikely” to accept large-scale Covid-19 measures and restrictions in an inevitable future pandemic, with “heavy-handed” rules and large-scale vaccine mandates key factors to eroding trust.
As a result, vaccine immunity for diseases has waned, with a warning of “co-occurring outbreaks” that could overrun Australia’s health system.
The final report into Australia’s large-scale Covid-19 response has been released and warns the government that it needs to “rebuild trust” with the public, with “many of the measures taken during Covid-19 unlikely to be accepted by the population again”.
While Australians were more likely to follow government directives at the beginning of the pandemic, trust increasingly “eroded” as the pandemic continued, the report said.
Co-authored by former NSW Health director general Robyn Kruk, epidemiologist Catherine Bennett and health economist Angela Jackson, the report found this was, in part, because people weren’t given reasons behind the advice underpinning restrictions.
