Artist James Powditch placed the sign in his store window on Saturday. Photo / Twitter
Artist James Powditch placed the sign in his store window on Saturday. Photo / Twitter
An inner-west Sydney store owner has ripped into Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a brutal sign blaming the PM for the latest lockdown.
"Dear Customers, we will be closed for the foreseeable future because Scott Morrison is a useless d***head who only ordered enough vaccine to vaccinate 4 per cent of the population 18 months into a pandemic," reads the sign in the window of the Roulette store and art studio in Annandale.
Artist James Powditch put up the sign on Saturday, after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced a two-week lockdown of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong.
James Powditch at the Art Gallery of NSW. Photo / News Corp Australia
NSW recorded 18 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total in the latest outbreak to 130.
The Delta variant has now spread to other states and territories, sparking a nationwide crisis as restrictions, border closures and lockdowns are reintroduced.
Experts say Australia's troubled vaccination rollout has partly contributed to the situation.
Several deaths as a result of a rare blood clotting disorder linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine led to a change in advice, with the shot only recommended for over-60s.
People who have received two doses of a vaccine are far less likely to be hospitalised or die from the Delta variant than those who have received only one.
But in Australia, fewer than one-third of adults have received one dose and just 6 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
"We can't leave the country, people can't come in, and we end up periodically in lockdowns, which cost a friggin' fortune," Powditch told CNN.
"People have been accepting that this is a diabolically difficult situation, but once we start watching the rest of the world open up, we're going to turn to anger over the way things like vaccines have been rolled out here."
On Monday night, Morrison called an emergency national Cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders to discuss the unfolding crisis.
Following the meeting, the PM announced plans to accelerate the vaccine rollout, by opening up the AstraZeneca vaccine to under-60s.
Artist James Powditch placed the sign in his store window on Saturday. Photo / Twitter
Morrison said to speed up the rollout, GPs would be covered by no-fault indemnity scheme in the event of the extremely rare blood clot risk.
The clotting disorder is called vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopaenia (VITT) or thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), however the likelihood of getting it is extremely low.
As of last month in Australia, out of 2.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 24 cases of TTS have been reported. So the risk of TTS is approximately one in 88,000.
"The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation [ATAGI] advice talks about a preference for AstraZeneca ... for those over 60, but the advice does not preclude persons under 60 from getting the AstraZeneca vaccine," Morrison said.
"And so if you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, then we would encourage you to go and have that discussion with your GP. Secondly, we are also providing the indemnity scheme for those general practitioners, so they can actively engage with you, and you can make the best decision for your health."
Morrison said that meant people under 40 could now go to their GP and get the AstraZeneca vaccine immediately.
"To get access to AstraZeneca, if they're willing to take on that risk, if they wish to go and speak to their job or their doctor and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they can do so."
