The backbencher has claimed it is “time” to follow some European countries, who have temporarily paused use of the AstraZeneca jab pending an investigation into a small number of blood clot cases among people vaccinated. Germany, Italy and France have all announced they would be pausing their rollout of the vaccine pending an assessment from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).“We should heed these concerns that European countries have a longer experience with the rollout of this (vaccine),” he said. “They have a greater imminent threat from the coronavirus so they don’t have any incentive to glibly suspend their role and we’re obviously doing so through legitimate concerns.”As of March 10, the EMA has reported a total of 30 cases of blood clotting among almost 5 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot in Europe.Mr Canavan said as Australia did not face any “imminent risk” of coronavirus spread, “surely the prudent approach” would be to suspend the rollout and look at evidence that will emerge “in coming months”.Asked if he had faith in the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) process, Mr Canavan said: “I don’t believe the teacher is infallible. I’ll say that. I don’t think they’re the Vatican.”But the comments were condemned by Labor’s Health spokesman Mark Butler. “Labor has strong confidence in the ability of the Therapeutic Goods Administration to monitor any reports about potential adverse events, and to give appropriate advice to the Australian people and Australian governments,” he said.University of Sydney Professor Julie Leask said the TGA and vaccine safety experts were keeping a “close eye” on the outcomes of the rapid review of the blood clot cases. “At this stage it appears that the blood clots may have occurred in these people anyway and that the vaccine did not cause them, but investigations will continue,” she said. “Regulators look at things like biological plausibility, evidence from the trials, what is happening in other countries, and background rates to see if there is an unexpected rise in blood clot events.”Queensland University of Technology Emeritus Professor Gerry Fitzgerald is an expert in public health and said blood clots were “extremely common” in normal population samples.“The countries that have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine have acted with extreme caution by suspending vaccination, until such time as the risk can be assessed,” he said. “The scientifically conducted clinical trials of the vaccines prior to their approval did not identify any increased risks associated with the vaccine.”NED-3447 Countries who have banned AstraZenicaQLD HAS ‘MAJOR CONCERNS’ ABOUT PNG SPREADAustralia will step up its support for Papua New Guinea amid concerns that coronavirus is spreading there and could jump to Queensland.Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed that travellers from PNG account for half of the COVID-19 cases in the state’s hotel quarantine system.State and federal authorities are on high alert for cases in the Torres Strait, where Australia’s most northern islands are just a short boat ride from the PNG mainland. Travel between Torres Strait and PNG villages has been banned since the start of the pandemic, but there are fears the virus could spread into the state across the porous border. According to The Australian, cabinet’s national security committee discussed the crisis at a meeting on Monday night and Foreign Minister Marise Payne will announce on Tuesday that more Australian medical assistance teams will deploy to PNG.There will be an effort in the coming days to ramp up the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to the country’s health workers, many of whom are already infected.The Queensland Premier has revealed that in recent COVID testing support for PNG, Queensland Health identified 250 positive cases in just 500 tests.“We have major concerns now about what is happening in Papua New Guinea,” said Ms Palaszczukon Monday.“PNG is on the doorstep of the Torres Strait and Queensland and I hope that I will be able to speak to the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister’s office in the next 24 hours just to talk about our concerns there (and) have a look at the flights coming in.”PNG’s high commissioner to Australia, John Kali, has sought urgent help from Australia for COVID-19 assistance. Australia has pledged $144m for COVID-19 vaccinations in PNG over three years as part of a $500m health security package, but the federal government has been under pressure to deliver more.There are concerns that the public funeral for former Papua New Guinea prime minister Michael Somare in Port Moresby may have been a ‘superspreader’ event for the virus.The official number of COVID-19 cases in PNG is 2173 but is thought to be much higher due to low testing rates. NED-3328-COVID-19-vaccines-Options-and-how-they-workNSW SECURITY GUARD TESTS POSITIVENSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has revealed there are no additional cases of COVID-19 after a hotel quarantine security guard, who tested positive for the concerning UK strain of the virus, was included in Monday’s numbers.The premier addressed reporters and announced that only one locally acquired case was recorded overnight. A 47-year-old man who works as a security guard at two quarantine hotels in Sydney tested positive for the virus on Saturday night after contracting it from a returned traveller staying at the Sofitel Wentworth where the man was working on Friday.NSW Health officials said genomic sequencing determined the man to be positive for the UK strain of COVID-19, which is believed to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than other variants.“While the source of the new case’s infection is still under investigation, genomic sequencing results received last night show a match to the viral strain of a COVID-positive returned traveller who was in the Sofitel Wentworth quarantine hotel while infectious,” a NSW Health alert detailed.“The genome sequencing results indicate the strain found in the hotel quarantine guest and security guard is the more transmissible B1.1.7 variant of the virus (also known as the UK variant).“Testing continues on close contacts of the case, who remains asymptomatic. The man’s household contacts have all tested negative, and will continue to self-isolate for 14 days.“We’re pleased about those numbers but encourage everyone with the mildest symptoms to come forward,” Ms Berejiklian said on Monday.“I wasn’t commenting yesterday on this, but I will say while it is always concerning to have a case outside of overseas travellers, it is not surprising; we always know it is a high risk.”National Vaccine RolloutTHREE LINKED TO QLD HOTEL CLUSTERAuthorities are concerned COVID-19 could once again be spreading through the same hotel that was at the centre of Brisbane’s snap three-day lockdown in January, after three cases were linked to the quarantine facility via genomic sequencing. More than 300 test results of close contacts and hotel quarantine staff and guests are pending, as millions of Queenslanders anxiously await news of whether they will endure another lockdown. It comes after a doctor at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital and a second guest at the Hotel Grand Chancellor were linked to a returning traveller who had contracted the UK strain of the virus. Six new cases were confirmed in Queensland on Monday morning, but they were all detected in hotel quarantine. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said none of the new cases were of concern, but that the next 24 hours would be “crucial”, as authorities confirmed three cases have been linked to the Hotel Grand Chancellor.A female doctor at the PA Hospital said to have used “appropriate” PPE was exposed to the virus while treating the first patient on Wednesday before spending Thursday out in the south Brisbane community. She was tested on Friday morning after developing symptoms and returned a positive result later in the day. As a result, patrons at the Morning After cafe at West End from 2pm to 3.15pm, Corporate Box Gym at Greenslopes between 5.45pm to 7pm, and the Stones Corner Hotel from 6.30pm to 7.45pm on Thursday have been ordered to get tested immediately and isolate. At least 272 community contacts have been traced and 160 staff and seven patients were identified as close contacts of the doctor at the hospital, with test results expected to begin trickling in on Monday. As of Monday morning, 86 people who were tested have come back negative.Three of the doctor’s close contacts had “most reassuringly” tested negative as of Sunday, according to deputy chief health officer Sonya Bennett.“That’s not to say that they’re completely out of the woods – we’ll continue to monitor them while in quarantine, and we also expect to get test results back from those community contacts in the next few days,” she said.Dr Bennett confirmed on Monday morning that genomic sequencing had shown a second guest at the Hotel Grand Chancellor had contracted the same strain of COVID-19. The two cases were staying on the same floor of the hotel, and authorities are scouring over security footage to determine if there is a chain of transmission. As a result, the facility has entered a 72-hour lockdown, with no guests allowed to leave and no further guests admitted until Wednesday. More than 160 people are currently staying at the hotel, with more than 200 guests and staff who have left the hotel since March 5 ordered to go into home isolation. The same hotel was the centre of Brisbane’s snap three-day lockdown in January. Dr Bennett said she didn’t perceive there to be a risk to the community, but would not pre-empt whether Brisbane would go back into lockdown. “There is clearly a lot we don’t yet know and there will be work going on first to manage the public health risk … If we get positive tests in … we can understand if there is any risk to the community,” she said.“Certainly with the healthcare worker in the hospital we haven’t seen any positive cases yet and that is a good sign. “ … They are being treated as a cluster but they are separate (incidents).”As of Monday, there are 38 active COVID-19 cases in the state. COVID-19 World NumbersCOALITION SUPPORT SLUMPSThe Coalition is now facing a challenge as popular support for the Liberal and Nationals parties has dropped three points to 39 per cent, the lowest since the 2019 election. According to an exclusive Newspoll in The Australian, Labor and the Coalition neck-to-neck with Labor’s primary vote lifting two points, to 39 per cent.This is the first time in the electoral cycle that the two parties are on equal footing.In a dramatic turnaround, Labor has an election winning lead of 52-48 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis, a four point reversal.As party leader Scott Morrison still enjoys record high support at 62 per cent.Mr Albanese recorded a four-point rise to 42 per cent in approval and a fall of four points in disapproval.On the head-to-head measure of who would make the better prime minister, Mr Morrison suffered a four-point fall to 56 per cent while Mr Albanese gained four points against his rival to 30 per cent.While the federal government has delivered good news on jobs and the economy, sexual assault allegations and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine have taken their toll.The margin between the two parties is at its narrowest since pre-pandemic levels.The last time the Coalition significantly fell behind Labor on two-part-preferred support was over Mr Morrison’s handling of the bushfire crisis.– additional reporting Heath Parkes-UptonNAT – Stay Informed – Social Media
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