COVID jab rollout ramps up in region
ABOUT 120 people were vaccinated in Townsville yesterday as the first stage of COVID-19 inoculations rolled out.
The Townsville University Hospital vaccination hub was the final of the first six distribution centres in Queensland.
Now the state government begins work on distributing the Astrazeneca vaccine, which is expected to arrive in Queensland in days.
Townsville MP Scott Stewart said the country was “certainly living in a different world” before the first COVID-19 case was detected in Queensland.
He said the vaccination rollout was a “real shot in the arm” for North Queensland.
Health Minister Yvette D’ath said that while the Townsville hub would distribute the Pfizer vaccine to begin with, the Astrazeneca vaccine was scheduled in Queensland in the coming days.
She said there had been some concern the Astrazeneca vaccine was not as safe as the Pfizer vaccine, but there was nothing to worry about.
“I can assure people that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved both of these vaccines,” Ms D’ath said.
“Any vaccine we use in relation to COVID-19 has gone through a strenuous approval process.
“I am happy to line up for any vaccine that is on offer when it comes to COVID-19.”
Ms D’ath, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Dr Jeannette Young have all agreed to wait for stage 1b.
“We believe our frontline workers should be the first,” Ms D’ath said.
She said the state government would not detail the plan for the rollout of the Astrazeneca vaccine until the number of vaccines Queensland would be receiving from the Commonwealth had been confirmed.
The details were expected to be firmed with the federal government yesterday.
“In the next week or two, we will be rolling out AstraZeneca,” Ms D’ath said.
She said the Astrazeneca vaccine would be sent to regional areas because it was much easier to handle.
“They will be the first to get the Astrazeneca,” Ms D’ath said.
Frontline healthcare and quarantine workers and residents in aged care facilities are first in line for the vaccine.
Then it will move to people with higher and moderate risk.
THE strongest ever financial result for the North Queensland Cowboys will help safeguard its future, the club says, as it reports a $5.5m operating profit for 2020.
But it says the actual result – an $18.38m profit – is inflated by building grants it received to fund the construction of its new community, training and high-performance facility.
About $11.3m in grants was included in the result.
Also included were prepayments from corporate and consumer members for the 2021 season, NRL sustainability funding, and retained earnings for the Cowboys Community Foundation.
The foundation supports its flagship program, NRL Cowboys House, a boarding house providing access to senior education for Indigenous students from remote communities.
Chairman Lewis Ramsay said the board was grateful for the support the club had received.
“We are incredibly grateful and forever indebted to each and every stakeholder who supported us and ensured that the club has survived what can only be described as the most challenging period in our history,” Mr Ramsay said.
He said when the NRL season was indefinitely suspended in March last year because of lockdowns, they did not know
what the future held for players, staff, partners and members.
“As a result, we had to make some very painful decisions to conserve our limited reserves and ask for help from those closest to us,” Mr Ramsay said.
Mr Ramsay said the willingness of its players to take pay cuts and live in a bubble, of its partners to forgo and adjust their entitlements, of its staff to stand down and then stand up in reduced capacities and for corporate and consumer members to pledge their memberships all ensured they survived the first Covid-19-affected season.
“But the battle is not over yet. While we have recorded our strongest ever result, we are acutely aware that this pandemic is unpredictable and forecasted profits can disappear overnight,” Mr Ramsay said.
“That’s why we are putting fiscally responsible plans in place to ensure that last year’s profit continues to secure the club’s future.”