Ep146: Dealing with the next pandemic 2- lockdowns and human rights
From Pomegranate Health by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
April 5, 2026 · 57 min · Episode 146
About this episode
The episode discusses the effectiveness and unintended consequences of Australia's public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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 ...
Topics covered
- pandemic response
- public health
- human rights
- social restrictions
- COVID-19
Keywords
- COVID-19 vaccines
- social restrictions
- community transmission
- public health measures
- unintended social harms
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