Australia on track for 40m Pfizer jabs by year’s end

Everyone travelling to Australia from countries other than New Zealand could be made to have a second coronavirus test just eight hours before flying.

Health Minister Greg Hunt is confident 40 million doses of the sought-after Pfizer vaccine will be available in Australia by the end of this year.

“We’ve got very significant quantities of Pfizer coming in — we’ve ordered 40 million doses, which are all ­expected to be delivered heav­ily back-ended towards the last quarter,” Mr Hunt said.

A nurse fills a syringe with the Pfizer vaccine. Picture: Thomas Lohnes/AFP

It comes as it’s revealed everyone travelling to Australia from countries other than New Zealand could be made to have a second coronavirus test eight hours before flying.

The potential move comes after emergency measures put in place for Indian repatriation flights were found to massively cut the number of positive cases in quarantine.

Cutting the number of infected people occupying space in the nation’s hotel quarantine facilities has been identified as a way of boosting the number of people able to return home to Australia.

Travellers booked on repat­riation flights from India earlier this month were given an antigen test before they were allowed to board in addition to an earlier PCR test of the kind used in Australia.

The testing resulted in 46 people who returned positive results being barred from flying.

Mr Hunt said the introduction of the second test had seen the rate of infected arrivals at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory drop from 13 per cent to 1 per cent.

“The reason you have hotel quarantine is because people incubate, and the best tests in the world can’t immediately determine them, but at this stage we’ve gone from a 13 per cent positivity to a one per cent positivity,” he said.

“The emergency action we took to protect Australia has so far shown to be highly effective in preventing positive cases coming to Australia, and that model is something we could consider for international flights to increase the number of people.”

PRE-FLIGHT VIRUS TESTS FOR TRAVELLERS

Everyone travelling to Australia from countries other than New Zealand could be made to have a second coronavirus test eight hours before flying.

The potential move comes after emergency measures put in place for Indian repatriation flights were found to massively cut the number of positive cases in quarantine.

Cricketer Steve Smith arrives in Australia after being in India. Picture: NCA NewsWire/James Gourley

Cutting the number of infected people occupying space in the nation’s hotel quarantine facilities has been identified as a way of boosting the number of people able to return home to Australia.

Travellers booked on repat­riation flights from India earlier this month were given an antigen test before they were allowed to board in addition to an earlier PCR test of the kind used in Australia.

The testing resulted in 46 people who returned positive results being barred from flying.

Mr Hunt said the introduction of the second test had seen the rate of infected arrivals at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory drop from 13 per cent to 1 per cent.

“The reason you have hotel quarantine is because people incubate, and the best tests in the world can’t immediately determine them, but at this stage we’ve gone from a 13 per cent positivity to a 1 per cent positivity,” he said.

Expatriates collect luggage from their Delhi flight before heading to Howard Springs Quarantine Facility. Picture: ADF

“The emergency action we took to protect Australia has so far shown to be highly effective in preventing positive cases coming to Australia, and that model is something we could consider for international flights to increase the number of people.”

Originally published as Australia on track for 40m Pfizer jabs by year’s end