I speak as an outside observer here in the U. S., but my understanding is that the whole Australian vaccine deal was handled poorly by the government. This has been explained to me that the isolation of an island continent bought Australia some time, which the government took to mean "sit on our thumbs until forced to do otherwise".<p>The point that I'm driving the long way around to is that it's a bit cheeky to go from a 14% vaccination rate, due to government cockups, to "get vaccinated or get used to subsistence farming".