The three pop-up injection sites are all located in Sydney and are for younger aged care workers, who were on the frontline of Australia’s first pandemic wave. The government’s Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation described aged care workers as “the most important group for prioritisation… because they are doing work of critical importance and social benefit.” Incomplete federal government data shows that to date, only around 60,000 of the aged care sector’s 250,000 workers had been vaccinated. Aged care workers have criticised the federal government’s handling of the vaccine rollout, which has included in-reach teams, general practitioners, respiratory clinics, Indigenous health services, state-run injection hubs, and federal hubs. There has also been conflict around aged care staff under 50 receiving the Pfizer vaccine, while workers over 50 receive Astra Zeneca. PASSPORTS COULD DIVIDE AUSSIESScott Morrison is being warned the introduction of domestic vaccine passports may create two classes of citizens, as the Prime Minister vows to continue working with the states on a plan to exempt fully vaccinated Australians from COVID restrictions.Business groups joined the premiers of NSW and Queensland yesterday in blasting the idea, which Mr Morrison has this week been pushing. Under the plan, states would waive snap lockdown and border closure restrictions on people who had received their coronavirus jabs.But Restaurant and Catering chief executive Wes Lambert told The Australian a domestic vaccine passport system “would be very cumbersome” and create more red tape during the pandemic that would treat Australians differently based on their vaccination status.“We need an open country, an open economy and the government has been requesting we holiday here this year — it’d be very difficult for us to support further red tape that would stop Australians from travelling within their own country and the potential to create two classes of Australian citizens,” he said.NEW BLOOD CLOT CASES LINKED TO ASTRAZENECAMeanwhile, Australia’s medicine’s watchdog has confirmed six new cases of blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine.An 18-year-old woman from Queensland was among the new cases, as well as a 57-year-old Victorian woman, and a 53-year-old South Australian man, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said.It said the teenage woman received the AstraZeneca jab before recommendations were updated on April 8 to say that specific vaccine should only be give to people aged over 50.A clotting case in a 79-year-old Victorian man has now been added to the tally after a review.Two other cases in individuals aged over 70 were also likely to be linked, but more clinical information was required before it could be confirmed.Just 24 blood clot cases have been recorded out of the millions of jabs delivered.“So far about 2.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered,” the TGA said in its latest vaccine report.“Overall, 21 of these cases are considered confirmed and three are considered probable.“Three of the four cases reported as probable in last weeks’ report have since been confirmed as TTS. The other case remains under investigation.”CHEMISTS TO ROLL OUT COVID JABSPharmacies will begin delivering COVID-19 jabs within weeks as the government tries to ramp up the underperforming vaccine rollout.Up to 56 chemists in rural and regional Queensland will be the first to deliver the AstraZeneca shots following a proposal from the Queensland Government.National cabinet agreed in April that States and territories could chose to incorporate community pharmacies into their rollout plans in rural and remote areas where there were limited other health facilities to deliver the vaccines. Up to fifty six locations have been identified by the Queensland Government where community pharmacies could be activated to vaccinate Australians.The chemists will have to be trained to deliver the jabs, “As additional vaccine supply is delivered over the coming months, additional community pharmacies will be brought on line to support an enhanced primary care roll out to ensure the broadest possible coverage for the community,” Health Minister Greg Hunt said. Community pharmacy will play an important role in the ramp up of the COVID-19 vaccine in the second half of the year, he saidNED-2170 How Coronavirus mutatesVACCINE PASSPORTS FLOATED AS NSW DEMANDS OPEN BORDERSThe federal government is considering reopening Australia’s borders with a vaccine passport-style arrangement to allow a return to international travel without mandatory hotel quarantine. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reportedly been discussing overseas travel options for fully vaccinated Australians with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in recent weeks, saying a digitally recorded vaccine passport is the “next most achievable step” in the recovery from COVID-19. Mr Morrison said that while a digital vaccine passport is “the next step”, he noted “it’s not safe and won’t be for some time for Australia’s international borders to open fully.” Mr Morrison continued, “But we are working on the next steps. And this is one of those important next steps. I look forward to working through, in a comprehensive way, those proposals with the state and territory governments, and, and I look forward to a constructive way forward.”IATA currently operate the Travel Pass mobile app that allows people to record, store, and manage their COVID-19 test results and vaccines. Qantas is reportedly trialling numerous document-style apps that would record traveller data and allow for border restrictions being further eased. A number of countries around the world have adopted different forms of vaccine passports in recent months as vaccine numbers increase. In the UK, travellers can present their test results and vaccination information via an NHS app, while the European Union is currently preparing to roll out its Digital Green Certificate, which will allow fully-vaccinated citizens to travel freely within the EU. Australia currently has a travel bubble agreement in place with New Zealand. It is expected that Singapore and Hong Kong could be added to the bubble within the coming months. COVID-19 Stats – Horizontal with Lazy Load‘THERE SHOULD BE NO INTERNAL BORDERS’NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says Australians should be able to move freely around the country whether they have been vaccinated or not, putting her at odds with Scott Morrison’s plan for those who have had the vaccine to be excluded from COVID-19 restrictions.According to a report in The Australian, Berejiklian, who has consistently shied away from border closures and strict lockdowns during the pandemic, said vaccinations should only be used to reopen the international border.“There should be no internal borders. There should be free movement within Australia, vaccine or no vaccine,” Ms Berejiklian told The Australian.“The vaccine is our way of dealing with international borders. There is no basis for states closing borders to other states.”It sets up national cabinet stoush, after the Prime Minister hinted domestic vaccination passports could be developed to help ensconce free movement in Australia.Mr Morrison wants the states to exempt fully vaccinated people from local COVID-19 restrictions during outbreaks, which have facilitated lockdowns and border closures.Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk labelled the idea “another thought bubble” but ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he would consider the passports “if a well-formed proposal comes before national cabinet”.West Australian Premier Mark McGowan, who has imposed the toughest border restrictions, said he would need to see “strong evidence from a health perspective” to consider domestic vaccine passports, suggesting he would maintain a cautious approach to letting in interstate travellers.With an election due in 12 months, the Morrison government has adopted a more conservative approach on lifting the international border — not until mid-2022 — and turned its focus to ramping up domestic travel.GRAPH SHOWS AUSTRALIA IS LAGGING IN VACCINE ROLL OUTMeanwhile, a shocking graph has exposed Australia’s failings when it comes to administering the COVID-19 vaccine.Our World In Data revealed just how far behind the nation is with its rollout as countries like the US, UK, Canada and Spain continue to forge ahead.Just 3.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Australia so far, well behind the 274 million doses in the US, 183 million in India and 57 million in the UK.New Zealand has also administered close to 400,0000 doses of the jab.The Morrison government has long been criticised for its slow roll out, with fury often coming from state leaders who argue it is impossible to plan the rollout because the federal government isn’t transparent about when and how many doses they’re getting.testing chart2Earlier in the week the government was slammed for its slow rollout within the disability care sector.Fewer than 1000 disability care residents have received a COVID-19 vaccine, new figures revealed.The disability royal commission on Monday heard from senior counsel assisting Kate Eastman that the vaccine rollout was an “abject failure”.But she said she understood the commission would need to hear the federal government’s explanation for the low inoculation rates. “These are people who represent some of our most vulnerable members of the population,” Ms Eastman said. “The Australian government rollout of vaccines to people with disability in residential care – and these are people who represent some of the most vulnerable people in our population – has been an abject failure.”Health Minister Greg Hunt said 999 disability residents had been vaccinated as of noon on Monday.At the time, a further 1526 support workers had also received a jab.Mr Hunt said now that 60 per cent of residential aged care facilities had received a second visit, the government was moving into the next stage of the disability rollout.“Those teams are being redeployed into disability (care facilities),” he said. Meanwhile NSW is forging ahead with its rollout, opening up the program to people aged in their 40s after thousands registered their interest.Those who fall into the age bracket will be given leftover doses of the Pfizer vaccine at Sydney’s vaccination hub in Homebush.The news came on the same day the federal government said more than 4000 GPs would join the rollout.Anyone aged between 50 and 70 can visit one of the thousands of GP clinics across Australia that are registered to be part of the program.“There are over 4300 GPs delivering vaccines to people aged 50 years and over from May 17,” the Department of Health said in a statement.“More than 1500 of those are in the regions, in regional, rural and remote Australia.”More than 40 million doses have been administered in Germany, 29 million in France and close to 28 million in Italy.Australia is now buying 25 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to keep up with demand and amid blood clot concerns with the AstraZeneca.CLOSED BORDER UNTIL MID-2022 ‘NOT A CRAZY PROPOSITION’Australia will not reach a target of having five out of six adults fully vaccinated until November next year unless the current rate of vaccination dramatically increases.According to a report in The Australian, analysis of the pace of Australia’s current vaccine rollout by the Blueprint Institute think tank has found that the nation would have to speed up its rate of vaccination almost to the same level as the US and the UK to have five in six adults fully vaccinated by the end of December.NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday that she wanted to see five out of six adults in the state vaccinated before the international border was opened.But at the current pace of vaccination, the border reopening would go well beyond mid-2022, which is the time frame flagged by the Morrison government.“The UK, US, EU and Canada are currently rolling out vaccinations around three times quicker than Australia,” Luke Heeney, a policy and economics researcher with the Blueprint Institute who compiled the projections told The Australian. “For us to fully vaccinate five in six adults by the end of the year, we’d need to match that pace by the second week of August.“If we wait until the final quarter to do so, the rollout will blow into 2022, finishing in February at the earliest. Given this, a closed border until mid-2022 is not a crazy proposition.”HOW TRAVELLERS SPREAD VIRUS AT MEDI-HOTELIt comes as health officials have suggested COVID-19 transmission at a medi-hotel in Adelaide may have happened when guests opened their doors to collect food.A Victorian man is believed to have contracted the virus from a fellow traveller while quarantining at the Playford Hotel before going home to Melbourne.The two men had been on the same flight, but the spread was not believed to have happened on the plane.CCTV footage has been reviewed but no breaches have been identified.South Australia’s deputy chief public health officer Emily Kirkpatrick said investigators were examining whether aerosol transmission played a part.PM PUSHES BACK ON TRAVEL COMMENTS Australia will not risk losing lives to reopen borders, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as he pushed back on suggestions international travel should resume even if “some people may die”.Virgin chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka had urged Australia to reopen its international borders when the most vulnerable are vaccinated, despite the risk of death.Mr Morrison described Ms Hrdlicka’s comments as “insensitive” and insisted borders would not reopen at the expense over lives. “I find it very difficult to have any part of what was said there,” he said. “Australia has avoided 30,000 lives lost when you compare it to the average fatality rate of ‘like’ countries in the OECD.“910 Australians have lost their lives. Every single one of those lives was a terrible tragedy.”Mr Morrison said he expected restriction-free domestic travel and other activities to be the more likely next step for fully vaccinated Australians.“I think that the next most achievable step because Australia, with our international borders up, means that vaccinated Australians would be in a much lower risk position when restrictions were to kick in,” he said. “Going on public transport or going to theatres or going to the footy or whatever they might do, family get-togethers. “They’re all vaccinated and then obviously the risks are a lot less and that’s why I’d continue to encourage people to move on making their booking to get the vaccinations.”Premier Gladys Berejiklian has also said “no death is acceptable” when it comes to risking the spread of COVID-19.NEW PLAN FOR DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TRAVELAustralians that are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to travel freely across Australia – and eventually internationally – if the states agree to a Federal Government proposal.Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt outlined the plan which would see states exempt vaccinated Australians from domestic snap lockdowns and border closures.“Where there are outbreaks or issues regarding state borders, there is the potential for those who have been fully vaccinated to be exempt from some of those restrictions,” Mr Hunt said on Monday.Mr Hunt said the government would soon release a “road map” so Australians could have something to look forward to.“It’s about progressive opening and I think that’s very important for hope and understanding in Australia,” he said.“And that’s based on evidence and the science.”Eventually the proposal will reportedly be extended to allow fully vaccinated Australians granted exemptions to travel overseas.Gladys Berejiklian flagged a new vaccine target on Monday, unveiling the number needed before the state government would consider allowing international travel, though the federal government will ultimately have the final say. She acknowledged about 10 million jabs were required to vaccinate the majority of the NSW population.“We have around six million adults and you would think at least five million should be vaccinated before we can have those conversations (about borders),” Ms Berejiklian told reporters.“I’d like to see that happen sooner than the middle of next year, and that depends on how many doses we get and how quickly we can vaccinate our population.“If we get the majority of our population vaccinated we can think about opening our international borders. I hope if the vaccine rollout is better than anticipated that date can be brought forward.”Close to one million doses have been administered across the state through commonwealth clinics and NSW Health.It comes amid a report that Australia’s vaccination targets are being delayed by older people putting off their AstraZeneca jab because of blood clot concerns.Basically every consultation there is some degree of vaccine hesitancy and discussion,” said Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Karen Price told The Australian.“Some people are adamant they’re going to wait. Even though I bring out my infographics, they’re adamant they wait to wait. Unfortunately, they’ve got this idea there’s a superior vaccine.“No amount of talking about statistics saying the blood clots are extremely rare is going to change some people’s mind because they fear they will be the one.”NED-3619-AstraZeneca blood clots-What we knowSHOCKING NUMBER OF VACCINES UNUSEDAlmost a quarter of all available COVID-19 vaccine doses are not being used in Australia, the federal health department has revealed. According to the latest commonwealth vaccine data, the Northern Territory has the worst rate of vaccine utilisation, closely followed by Queensland. Nationally, dose utilisation as of week 12 of the vaccine rollout was 77 per cent. In the Northern Territory, 47,652 doses have been made available, but just 22,953 have been administered, a low 58 per cent dose utilisation rate. In Queensland, just 64 per cent of available doses have been used – 170,330 out of 317,810. Tasmania has had the highest rate of dose utilisation, having administered 49,739 of the 62,254 doses available. NSW sits at 78 per cent, Victoria at 77 per cent, Western Australia at 80 per cent, South Australia at 79 per cent, and the ACT at 82 per cent. In total, 4,622,610 doses are available around the country, but just 3,100,137 have been administered. Hotel Quarantine
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