Canberra (Australia), October 20: Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic failed the country's most vulnerable people, an independent review has found.
The review, which was funded by philanthropic organizations, recently published its report, which was informed by consultations with 200 health experts, public servants, economists, businesses and epidemiologists.
It identified four areas "where we should have done better" in Australia's pandemic response, including that economic supports should have been provided fairly and equitably, and older Australians should have been better protected.
The report found Australia's most vulnerable communities were excluded from financial support measures and "bore the brunt" of the pandemic.
"For children and parents (particularly women), we failed to get the balance right between protecting health and imposing long-term costs on education, mental health, the economy and workforce outcomes," it said.
"The problems in aged care were well known before the pandemic. Many of these problems have their roots in the sad reality that Australia's aged care system depersonalizes older people."
The report noted that the country's early success in response to the COVID-19 started to falter in 2021. The arrival of the Omicron variant and easing of restrictions saw cases climb to 15,318 and excess deaths rise to 152 per million people in 2021.
Cases and deaths have risen even further during 2022 in Australia, "dramatically reversing" the early competitive advantage.
"As of Sept. 30 2022, Australia has recorded 378,617 cases per million people in 2022. That is more than double the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average," it said.
"The latest available official data shows that by May 2022 excess deaths in Australia had spiked to almost 359 per million people in 2022, 16 percent higher than the OECD average in 2022."
It supported the federal government's move to establish an Australian Center for Disease Control and said governments got many of the "big calls right" but noted much of Australia's success in managing COVID-19 could be attributed to being able to easily close international borders.
The review made six key recommendations to improve preparedness for future, including enhancing transparency around government decisions, improving public service collaboration and modernizing how governments use data.
Source: Xinhua