Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison would like the world to know that he didnât shit his pants at McDonaldâs after attending a rugby match in 1997. Why would Morrison bring up such a thing? Itâs better than talking about the covid-19 situation in Australia right now.
The Prime Ministerâs alleged pants-shitting incident became a meme in 2019 and street artists had a field day, even putting up a commemorative plaque at the McDonaldâs location in Engadine, New South Wales where it supposedly happened.
But the Prime Minister told an Australian radio show on Thursday, Kyle and Jackie O, that he never soiled himself in a McDonaldâs. As the Australian newspaper notes, the discussion was largely about typical stuff you might hear from a politician on the radio before things started to get weird.
âCan I clear up one thing?â Morrison asked the hosts before referring to the incident as the âbiggest urban myth ever.â
âThe Maccaâs thing?â one of the radio hosts asked, using Australiaâs slang term for McDonaldâs.
âThat you pooed your pants at the Endagine McDonaldâs…â the other host helpfully chimed in.
âItâs complete and utter rubbish. I found the whole thing incredibly amusing, and weâve always joked about it amongst our team here as weâve driven by it, asking âDo you want to pop in for a Big Mac?â,â insisted Morrison, a man not known for his sense of humor.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1415448260005662720
Meanwhile, Australiaâs two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, are now in lockdown over a surging coronavirus pandemic and low vaccination rates against covid-19. After long stretches with virtually no covid-19 detected in the country, the state of New South Wales is currently reporting between 50-100 cases of coronavirus each day, a nightmare for residents who understand exponential growth can make those numbers become even more substantial in the coming days and weeks.
Sadly, Australiaâs ballooning coronavirus infections can largely be blamed on the federal governmentâs completely botched vaccine rollout. Morrisonâs government planned on three vaccines for Australia: One developed locally at the University of Queensland, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which was to be used primarily for health care workers, and the UKâs AstraZeneca vaccine for the general population. But it all went to shit.
The University of Queenslandâs vaccine gave trial participants false positives for HIV tests, there wasnât enough Pfizer to go around, and Australiaâs version of the FDA warned that AstraZeneca sometimes (although rarely) caused a blood clot disorder in younger people that could be fatal. The condition was extremely rare, but it still scared enough Australians that few people can get vaccinated right now. Morrison simply didnât order enough Pfizer for every Australian.
Which brings Australia to where it is today, with just 9% of its population fully vaccinatedâthe worst vaccination rate among wealthy countries in the world. Compare that with over 48% of Americans fully vaccinated, and over 52% of British people.
No wonder Prime Minister Morrison would rather talk about allegedly shitting his pants. Itâs less embarrassing than his vaccine rollout.
