Australia plays catch-up with COVID vaccines
V-Day is finally within sight of patient Aussies
AUSTRALIA’S V-Day is within reach at least, as health officials confirm the first doses of the highly effective Pfizer vaccine will arrive in the country within days and start rolling out in one week.
In Israel the Pfizer jab is already proving hugely successful, with a new study of more than 523,000 vaccine recipients showing no one had died and only 544 people contracted COVID-19 — just four of them with severe illness.
Australia is playing catch-up to the rest of the world, with more than 160 million vaccine doses already distributed globally, including enough in the US alone to cover our entire population.
February 22 is widely tipped as the start date, with Health Minister Greg Hunt confirming the first shipment of 80,000 Pfizer doses will land in Australia before the end of the week, “if not earlier” to then undergo quality testing. Mr Hunt resisted naming a specific day, but said priority groups in Phase 1A of the rollout would start to receive their first jab in the final week of February.
“Later in the week, once we have got the confirmed doses and the confirmed numbers, we will … indicate (who gets the vaccine),” he said.
Mr Hunt said the 80,000 figure was a “minimum” and revealed the government had been working “quietly behind the scenes for more”.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that we may be able to do better than that but … I will not count any of these until they are literally in hand,” he said.
Mr Hunt said the first fortnight of the rollout would primarily focus on hotel and quarantine workers, as well as disability, aged-care staff and residents, and frontline health staff.
Mr Hunt also revealed it was expected the Therapeutic Goods Administration would approve the AstraZeneca vaccine this week. This would trigger a shipment of 1.2 mil“Safety lion doses of the jab from overseas to bolster the Phase 1A rollout, which is expected to take about six weeks.
The government has not confirmed how many doses of either vaccine is expected for the remainder of March. But from April, Australia will have one million doses of AstraZeneca from its domestically produced supply each week.
The government is also expecting at least one million doses from overseas per month for April, May and June. This would mean Australia had about 1.25 million doses of the two vaccines to administer each week as the rollout moved to Phase 1B and beyond.
Transport company DHL is prepared to start distributing the vaccines to vaccination hubs around the country as part of a complex cold-chain delivery system.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on
Sunday toured the Western Sydney facility where special fridges have been prepared to house the vials at -70C.
Reports from Israel, which has already distributed 6.2 million doses to its population, have suggested the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 93 per cent in a real-world setting. “This data unequivocally proves that the vaccine is very effective and we have no doubt that it has saved the lives of many Israelis,” senior Maccabi Healthcare Services official Miri Mizrahi Reuveni said.
The UK is also well advanced with its vaccine rollout, with more than 14 million people having received at least one dose, about one in four adults in England.
Mr Hunt said Australia was slow to rollout the vaccine because it had chosen to do a “full and thorough” safety assessment, unlike emergency approvals granted overseas.
leads on to confidence and the confidence leads on to uptake and uptake leads on to better protection,” he said. “Australians do not want us to cut corners, they do want a thorough assessment.”
Labor’s health spokesman Mark Butler has condemned the slow rollout, pointing out that even Zimbabwe has announced it will start vaccinating people this week.
“160 million people have been vaccinated around the world in almost 90 different countries … so much for Scott Morrison’s guarantee that Australians would be in the front of the queue,” he said.
Meanwhile religious Australians have been encouraged to follow the advice from Pope Francis and accept the vaccine amid some concern about the AstraZeneca jab being derived from an aborted foetus cell decades ago. The pontiff said last year that all vaccinations recognised as clinically safe and effective can be “used in good conscience”.
AS THE hospitality industry ground to a halt last year, business dried up for a boutique North West business.
Based in Burnie, Henry’s Ginger Beer was a popular stockist for Tasmanian cafes, restaurants and events.
But when the pandemic forced the closure of many businesses in 2020, Henry’s found its sole income stream had run dry, leading it to consider what it could do to keep the business afloat.
“It was a big challenge. We had no other avenues, or online stuff,” coowner Carolyn Watson-Paul said.
The saviour came in the form of a Small Business Relief Grant.
The business was one of thousands across the country to apply for one of the 67 one-off $10,000 grants.
With the funds Henry’s planned to launch an online store to be able to sell direct to the Tasmanian public.
But the owners came across another problem. “We were importing our bottles from overseas, and then because of the freight issues with COVID it was just no longer viable,” Ms Watson-Paul said.
“We had to change to an Australian-made bottle.
“And that then meant we had to change the label, the shape of the bottle, the machinery. We had all of that added stress as well.”
But once the website was up and running, and the product was ready to roll out, the company’s business “went crazy”.
“Our product is very boutique — we like to keep it quality over quantity, so it all certainly went in a hurry,” Ms Watson-Paul said.
“Support from the cafes and restaurants had been fantastic as they’ve reopened. It was so sad to see cafes that had built up such a great business have to close.”
BENJAMIN Jago says he still hasn’t been able to start grieving the tragic death of his partner, with lengthy court delays hampering his hopes for closure.
Five years have passed since Mr Jago filed a discrimination complaint against the state government in the wake of his partner Nathan Lunson’s death by suicide.
And almost two years have passed since he fought his case in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, alleging he was discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation when he was not recognised as Mr Lunson’s next of kin. Mr Jago, who had to fight to even be able to attend his partner’s funeral, is frustrated by the drawn-out delays in waiting for a final decision to be handed down.
“I haven’t been able to grieve basically. I haven’t been able to move on with my life because I haven’t been able to grieve; I’ve had to fight,” he said.
Mr Jago is now hoping the case will be finalised later this month.
He and Mr Lunson were a couple for almost six years, lived together for 5½, and had plans to marry in New Zealand.
Because their relationship was not registered, when Mr Lunson died, Tasmania’s Coronial Division did not recognise Mr Jago as his partner’s next of kin, despite its subsequent recognition the pair was in a significant relationship.
Mr Jago was initially precluded from attending his partner’s funeral, but after negotiations with his family, was permitted to sit in the back row with Mr Lunson’s friends.
He said he also was left out of decisions about Mr Lunson’s burial.
The case wound its way through the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal and up to the
Supreme Court in April 2019.
LGBTIQ+ activist Rodney Croome said Mr Jago had been let down by the Tasmanian authorities “at every point”.
“It was deeply traumatic for Ben to be told he couldn’t see his late partner’s body one last time, to be told he wasn’t welcome at his partner’s funeral and then refused any say in what became of his partner’s remains,” Mr Croome said.
“The long, frustrating legal processes Ben has been forced to undertake, including unconscionable delays in the Supreme Court, just deepen that trauma and make it
impossible grieve.
“The Tasmanian authorities should hang their heads in shame for inflicting so much pain on someone who just wants his legal rights respected.”
Mr Croome called on the state government to conduct a review of Mr Jago’s case, offer him an apology, “and make sure this doesn’t happen again”.
Justice Minister Elise Archer said while she could not comment on a matter before the courts, she said the state government had implemented a range of measures to address case backlogs.
for him to properly
JUST months ago Georgia Chambers was unsure when she’d be able to run again.
The 17-year-old athlete suffered a stress fracture after overtraining in August last year, leaving her on crutches for eight weeks.
But she was thrilled on Sunday after taking out the women’s enticer event at the Queen’s Head Hotel Triathlon Gala.
Taking place at Seven Mile Beach from 9.30am, the triathlon featured three distances – enticer with a 300m swim, 7km ride and 2km run; sprint with a 750m swim, 20km ride and 5km run; and Olympic with a 1500m swim, 40km ride and 10km run.
Georgia said it was an amazing feeling to win her section.
“A few months ago I would never have thought I’d win a triathlon,” she said.
“The fact that I’ve come back so quickly has been amazing. I only just got clearance to start running again in late January.”
This was Georgia’s third triathlon, having participated in her first just before her injury last year.
She said friendships and a sense of community were what drew her into the sport.
“It’s a lot of fun, everyone is so nice,” she said.
“I like that it’s not just running, and you get to do some swimming and cycling. It’s a great variety.”
Triathlon South’s Michael Anderson said it was very happy with the way the day had gone, with perfect conditions and a great turnout.
“We had about 70 individuals take part teams,” he said.
He said competitors had come from across the state.
“We really aim to have a positive atmosphere and make it a sport that everyone can take part in,” he said.
“Some people take it really seriously and others don’t care if they win or lose and just want to enjoy a social activity. We cater to everyone.” alongside 10
The overall men’s enticer winner was Liam Blue. Lisa Albinus won the female sprint and Andrew Rolls the men’s.
In the Olympic section, Sarah Hardy won open senior female and Matt Rundle won the male section. Sheila Barrett won veteran female and Hayden Armstrong won veteran male. Michael Anderson took out the super veteran male section.
For the full list of winners, visit the Triathlon South Facebook page.