Milwaukee City Wire

State Sen. Chris Larson spoke out aggressively on Twitter in criticism of the U.S.'s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and specifically, the messaging of the GOP when it comes to the vaccine for the virus. 

He said on Twitter, “Just finished a panel with elected leaders in Australia and New Zealand where their vaccination rates are now over 90%. It is freshly stunning just how far down America is being dragged by having a major party so committed to an anti-science dogma.”

The U.S. has been compared in a negative light to Australia many times over the course of the pandemic. While the U.S. continues to struggle with keeping cases, hospitalizations and deaths under control, Australia is thriving in most aspects of handling the outbreak. Another area that the U.S. is significantly lagging behind Australia and other countries is vaccination rate, of which the U.S. currently sports only 61.2%. Canada has a vaccination rate of 77%, Australia is at 75.8% and the United Kingdom has a vaccination rate of 69.7%. 

Though Australia has undoubtedly had better results in fighting the pandemic, their methods have been criticized. Their success has been the result of extremely strict and unprecedented lockdowns, restrictions and loss of civil liberties. 

According to BBC, "Australia has imposed extreme measures for the last 20 months, converting facilities into quarantine compounds. Earlier this month, three people who had tested negative for COVID escaped from one of these facilities in Howard Springs. They were found and arrested."

For many in the U.S., these personal freedom sacrifices are simply non-tenable. The debate over how to best handle the pandemic continues to rage in the U.S., and it seems unlikely that the two sides will meet common ground any time soon. Meanwhile, hospitals are becoming better at treating COVID-19 and the death rate is falling, but new variants are developing rapidly, igniting concern once again from public health officials.