Greg Hunt says the federal government has a “very high interest” in producing mRNA vaccines, potentially including the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, in Australia as it looks to rescue its error-ridden rollout.It had planned for the AstraZeneca vaccine to make up the bulk of its rollout, with drug manufacturer CSL to produce 50 million doses in Melbourne.But that plan was thrown into disarray earlier this month when authorities warned against its use in people aged under 50 when possible, making the Pfizer vaccine Australia’s preferred jab for 11.2 million recipients.Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed on Sunday the government saw onshore mRNA production as the “next phase”, but warned the process would take time.“We know we can do this as a country. I won’t put an exact timeframe (on it), but the companies we’ve been speaking to have said that they would expect it would take the best part of a year,” he said.“Some may be able to do earlier, some may take longer because of the commercial disclosure requirements … We’re talking widely, and there is very high interest in mRNA capability in Australia.”Australia has ordered a total of 40 million Pfizer doses to arrive by the end of the year, but a total reliance on shipments from overseas has seen its plans dented by supply issues in the European Union.The AstraZeneca developments saw the federal government abandon all vaccination timetables, having aimed to vaccinate the entire adult population by October.But Labor health spokesman Mark Butler said Prime Minister Scott Morrison must outline a “clear plan” after talks with state and territory leaders at a national cabinet meeting on Monday.“He can’t simply now walk away from a plan,” he said on Sunday.“Scott Morrison must outline a clear plan to replace his current failed one that has targets, that has timelines, that has milestones that allow Australians and Australian businesses to plan for the future.”Mr Butler accused the prime minister of “bungling” the rollout, saying the government was over-reliant on the AstraZeneca vaccine and doses sourced from overseas.“We’re only getting a very small amount of supplies from Pfizer and still not enough from AstraZeneca because Scott Morrison did not negotiate deals quickly enough, and he did not negotiate enough deals,” he said.NED-3328-COVID-19-vaccines-Options-and-how-they-workVICTORIA MARKS 52 DAYS WITH NO NEW LOCAL CASESNo new local cases of COVID were recorded in Victoria overnight. Four new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine, taking the state’s active cases to 14. There were 7915 tests results conducted. Only 877 vaccine doses were adminstered, taking the state’s total number to 164,045 – or about 2.5 per cent of Victoria’s population.There have been no locally acquired COVID cases in Victoria for 52 days.GP’S REPORT DROP IN APPOINTMENTS FOR VACCINEAussies are abandoning their appointments to get a COVID-19 vaccine following concerns about AstraZeneca’s link to rare blood clots.Three cases of thrombosis with a low platelet count have been reported in Australia, with one 48-year-old woman dying in a NSW hospital last week. Sydney GP Jamal Rifi said confidence had taken a hit following the reports, prompting the number of vaccine bookings at his clinic to dramatically drop. He said the clinic had been vaccinating up to 70 people a day until the medical advice was updated this month to no longer recommend AstraZeneca for people aged under 50. “Unfortunately, today, I have only 17 booked,” Dr Rifi told Today. “That is what is causing the alarm for myself and other GPs.“I think it’s the side effects and the reported cases of the clots that happened in Australia.”Almost 1.5 million vaccines have been administered as of April 17. Dr Rifi said GPs were talking with patients about the rare side effects and what to look for but urged people aged over 70 to get the jab. “We would like to send the message loud and clear that people have nothing to fear from this vaccine,” he said. “They need to fear the virus itself. It (the vaccine) is safe, it is effective.”ANKLE BRACELET FOR RETURNED TRAVELLERSPlanning for easing Australia’s international border restrictions is underway, but the shutters will not be lifted all in one go, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.The news came as a senior minister suggested ankle bracelets could be used by returned travellers to ensure they observe the rules around home-based quarantine.Mr Morrison doubled down on the possibility of the nation’s border restrictions easing in the second half of this year, a move that may give Australians the ability to quarantine at home after travelling abroad.“We are doing the planning work, understanding health risks, understanding how they can be successfully done and in a few months, what we see where we are at,” Mr Morrison told reporters.However, any such easing would not automatically allow freedom of movement for all Australians.Mr Morrison instead flagged a staggered opening that would allow Australians who have received a COVID-19 vaccination to travel overseas for “important purposes”, such as work and medical reasons.“If we can get in a position in the second half of the year to have Australians for essential purpose travel and return to the country without going into hotel quarantine, if they have been vaccinated, it is a good incentive to get vaccinated,” he said.He added he was in “no hurry” to lift the international border restrictions.“I assure Australians that I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country which is so different to the rest of the world,” he said.Mr Morrison did not elaborate on how the finer points of home-based quarantining, however Employment Minister Stuart Robert was asked about this by ABC Insiders host David Speers“What sort of ideas would there be for this? Regular visits, inspections to make sure they’re home, ankle bracelets, some sort of monitoring, how do you do it?” Mr Speers asked.Mr Robert wouldn’t rule anything out and said allowing fully-vaccinated Australians to travel overseas would be a logical first step in reopening international borders.NED-3467 Travel BubblesHUNT ANNOUNCES INVESTIGATION INTO WOMAN’S VACCINE DEATHA coronial investigation into the death of a 48-year-old woman believed to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine is now underway. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the investigation on Saturday, just 24 hours after the Central Coast woman, Genene Norris, died from blood clotting, which is one of the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. Ms Norris received the vaccine days before Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the government would not roll out the vaccine to under-50s within Australia. Despite the death, Mr Hunt said the nation’s rollout plan would not be effected, saying the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) would review the vaccine, while the government continues to follow the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) advice.“Throughout the course of the pandemic we have followed the medical advice and we will continue to do that,” Mr Hunt said.“Sometimes difficult and hard decisions are made but we will continue to follow that medical advice because, ultimately, that is the greatest protection for Australians.According to the TGA’s Deputy Secretary Professor John Skerrit, Ms Norris had a number of pre-existing medical conditions, which made her case “atypical” and “particularly complicated”. Prof Skerrit said an autopsy will be conducted early next week. DEATH ‘LIKELY’ LINKED TO VACCINEAustralia’s medical regulator has ruled that the death of a NSW woman following blood clots within days of taking the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab is “likely to be linked to vaccination”.The 48-year-old woman from the Central Coast received the vaccine on the morning of April 8, prior to the decision by the Australian Technical Advisory Group Immunisation (AAGI) and the announcement by Government that the Pfizer vaccine was preferred for patients aged under 50. It’s the third reported case in Australia of a person developing blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca shot. The Therapeutic Goods Administration’s Vaccine Safety Investigation Group (VSIG) met today to review the case and tonight released a statement on its findings.It noted the case was complicated by the patient’s underlying medical conditions, including diabetes. “In relation to this case, VSIG agreed that the case was consistent with causal association to immunisation although for this patient, anti-PF4 antibodies were absent. Anti PF-4 antibodies which activate platelets have been found in almost all other cases reported internationally of thrombosis (blood clots) with thrombocytopenia (very low platelets) associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” the VSIG said in a statement.“Despite the atypical clinical features and the negative antibody test, in the absence of an alternative cause for the clinical syndrome, VSIG believed that a causative link to vaccination should be assumed at this time.”NED-3619-AstraZeneca blood clots-What we knowSome laboratory test results from the patient are still pending and an autopsy will be conducted next week.“Given this is an atypical presentation, should the test results and or the autopsy provide an alternative causation, VSIG would review their decision,” VSIG said.There have been at least 885,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine administered in Australia to date, so while numbers are small, three cases of TTS equates to a frequency of 1 in 295,000.“The overall number of reports received for blood clots following vaccination so far has been no higher than the expected background rate for the more common type of blood clots in Australia. These can occur in around 50 Australians every day separate to vaccination and are not related to the very rare TTS clotting disorder,” the VSIG said.The safety group issued the following health warning for people getting the jab:Common side effects include fever, sore muscles, tiredness and headache. These usually start within 24 hours of vaccination and last for one to two days. These side effects are expected and are not of concern unless severe or persistent. The reports of these rare clotting complications have occurred later (between day 4 and 20 after vaccination) and have generally been severe, requiring hospitalisation.Seek immediate medical attention if, a few days after vaccination, you develop symptoms such as a severe or persistent headache or blurred vision; shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling or persistent abdominal pain; unusual skin bruising and/or pinpoint round spots beyond the site of injection.
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