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[title]Few industries have been hit harder economically by the pandemic than the live music industry. Almost overnight, musicians had gigs cancelled, tours canned and their entire income stream dry up in the face of a virus that thrived in the beautiful, sweaty humanity of live crowds. Some musicians have used the time to focus on writing and recording; some have taken to Zoom. And some, such as Melbourne-based musician Georgia McDonald (aka Georgia Maq), have donned PPE and taken to the front lines to help bring a sense of normality – and live music – back to Australia.
Maybe you know her best from Camp Cope, her debut solo album, Pleaser, or perhaps her new music with Alice Ivy, but right now you might roll up your sleeve at a vaccination centre and find McDonald on the other end of the needle. She is currently working as a nurse vaccinator – that is, she’s one of the thousands of nurses working “six days a week, sometimes seven” to vaccinate Melbourne out of the pandemic. And vaccinate our way back into gigs of course. “I can’t wait to get my bum out on stage in front of people,” she jokes.
McDonald gained her nursing qualification several years ago, but music meant she never got to use it. “When the pandemic happened I was like, ‘Oh! I’m qualified to help!’,” McDonald says, adding that she was put on the nursing sub-register to help with the expected surge in demand for healthcare workers. In 2020 that meant McDonald was swabbing throats and noses at testing sites; in 2021, it’s meant she’s been vaccinating Melburnians. “I'm really trying to get the music industry back on track in the best way that I can, which is by working every single day,” she says.
I'm really just trying to get as many people vaccinated as I possibly can.
It’s a view shared across a lot of the music industry, with Australia’s leading music promoters, festivals, record labels, venues and artists banding together for the #VaxTheNation campaign. In total, the industry collective boasts more than 400 artists and organisations all united in their goal to encourage as many Australians as possible to get vaccinated. And it makes sense: while hospitality and retail industries have had to adapt significantly to lockdowns, it’s a feat almost unfeasible to the live performance industry. Vaccination is essentially their – and our – ticket back to live gigs.
McDonald is just one of the hundreds of artists who has put their name to the campaign, a decision she says was “the absolute right thing to do”. “Being a nurse and a musician, I was like ‘this was made for me’,” she says. Wearing both hats has also allowed McDonald to use her platform (follow her Instagram for the latest) as a musician to share accurate vaccination information with her audience. “Because there’s a lot of garbage out there,” she says.
“[The vaccine] is so safe and so amazing. And they’ve been working on these vaccines for years, because coronavirus isn’t new,” she says. “It's not like a brand-new thing that's appeared. It's a branch, it’s a type of coronavirus. It's been around for ages, and they’ve been working on a vaccine for ages.”
“Please get vaccinated. There's kind of nothing to lose except lockdown.”
Every public health official in Australia agrees that mass vaccination is the only way out of this crisis. We at Time Out recommend that you get vaccinated as soon as you can if that is appropriate for your own health. Here's how to make a vaccination appointment. Please speak to a medical professional about what is right for you.