A resident receives the coronavirus vaccine in Wuhan on April 8. Picture: Getty
China's top disease control official has admitted the country’s coronavirus vaccines are not particularly effective.
Gao Fu, the head of the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the four Chinese vaccines “don't have very high rates of protection" at a news conference on Saturday. He also said the country was considering mixing different vaccines together in a bid to boost their effectiveness.
The admission was described by the BBC as a “rare admission of weakness”. Mr Gao later walked back the comments, saying been misinterpreted. The comments have gone mostly unreported on in China.
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Updates
New case of COVID-19 reported in WA
A new case of coronavirus has been reported in Western Australia.
The WA cargo ship AquaGenie off the coast of Karratha had to be evacuated yesterday after a crew member tested positive, Perth Now reports.
The new case was confirmed by the WA premier Mark McGowan on Monday.
The man in his 50s was given a rapid test on board which returned a positive result. He’s now been taken to Karratha Health Campus and will be transferred to Royal Perth Hospital to an isolation ward.
The cargo ship reportedly has 20 crew members on board.
Jab program still being recalibrated: CMO
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer has admitted Australia’s vaccine rollout is still being reformulated after new information about AstraZeneca derailed the government’s previous vaccination rollout plans.
Professor Paul Kelly said the rollout would continue as normal for the most vulnerable, who fall into Phase 1A and 1B, including frontline health and quarantine workers, and aged care residents.
“Those are our priority populations. By mid year, we want to get those completed,” Prof Kelly said. But he said the remainder of the rollout was still being worked through.
“The rest, with this new information we have over the last few days, we need to recalibrate what we are doing with the program.
“I won't give a number or date. But we absolutely committed to providing the vaccine to anyone, any adult Australian, who wants the vaccine. As quickly as possible.”
Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
When pushed on a timetable of when all Australians would receive at least one dose of the vaccine, Prof Kelly said it was still being worked through.
“We are continuing to put that out and have had a big change in relation to the logistics and rollout in terms of the announcement on AstraZeneca last week.
“We will take our time to work through that.”
Australia secures 40 million Pfizer doses
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has announced the government has secured 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The doses will be in the country by the end of the year, Prof Kelly said today.
“I can say will have 40 million doses of Pfizer by the end of the year so by the end of year we would only have enough to vaccinate basically the entire adult population of Australia.
“I was talking about healthcare workers aged under 50 four Pfizer available by midyear.
"It goes back to the ends of my previous question that we have, we will, by the end of year, by contract with Pfizer, 40 million doses of Pfizer.”
Prof Kelly continued that he couldn’t elaborate on how the vaccines would arrive on a “week by week” basis.
“Can I tell you on a week-by-week basis how much is coming in, or how much will be here by the end of the year? No, I can’t.” Prof Kelly said as of the last 24 hours there had been a total 1,178,302 Australians vaccinated.
Top official admits Chinese vaccines aren’t very effective
China's top disease control official said the country’s coronavirus vaccines are not particularly effective.
Gao Fu, the head of the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the four Chinese vaccines “don't have very high rates of protection" at a news conference on Saturday. He also said the country was considering mixing different vaccines together in a bid to boost their effectiveness.
The admission was described by the BBC as a “rare admission of weakness”. Mr Gao later walked back the comments, saying been misinterpreted. The comments have gone mostly unreported on in China.
Chinese scientists have developed four separate vaccines — however research has suggested their effectiveness is as low as 50 per cent.
More than 100 million doses of China’s coronavirus vaccines have been administered across China, and Beijing will only give visas to travellers who have been given a dose of the Chinese vaccine.
Israel has emerged as the clear winner in the race to vaccinate its citizens with more than half of its population already receiving at least one dose of vaccine, and more than a third having received both doses.
But Australia is languishing compared to other countries including those in our region such as Indonesia and Singapore.
According to Our World in Data figures Australia ranks second last in all the countries analysed and sits below Ecuador on a par with Botswana.
But the Morrison Government argues these figures are not up to date and the more respected analysis is the work of the Financial Times.
But rather than putting Australia at the “front of the queue” the FT figures put Australia at the 76th country in the queue of 152 countries where data was analysed on the vaccine rollout.
Source: Financial Times
Nazi graffiti spotted in Brisbane playground
Counter-terrorism detectives have raided three properties after racist neo-Nazi graffiti was spotted near a playground in Brisbane’s south.
It will be alleged a footpath at the Calamvale District Park was spray painted with racist material, while a neo-Nazi banner was hung from a nearby tree in early February.
Officers from the Counter-Terrorism Investigation Group seized a number of items after carrying out three warrants in Brisbane’s southern suburbs on Friday, but no charges were laid.
A friend of a woman who suffered critical injuries after a boat exploded on the Hawkesbury River over the Easter break has described the victim as “beautiful and energetic”.
Slovakian-born Mirka manages an organic retail store and is “loved by her friends and the local community which she gives so much to”, a friend wrote in a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her ongoing treatment.
Mirka remains in the Royal North Shore Hospital, where she has been subject to multiple surgeries and treatments.
Outspoken senator Pauline Hanson has blasted the new appointment of Australia Post boss Paul Graham.
The Woolworths executive was announced as the new chief executive on Monday after Christine Holgate last year resigned following revelations senior leaders were gifted expensive Cartier watches.
But the One Nation leader said the announcement, one day before a probe into the circumstances leading to Ms Holgate being stood down, undermined the inquiry.
The horrific moment a drug dealer ambushed a US police officer, shooting him dead on the side of the road, has been caught on camera.
New Mexico police officer Darrian Jarrott, 28, was conducting a routine traffic stop in February of this year when he was ambushed by Omar Felix Cueva.
Cueva, 39, was pulled over by Mr Jarrott because his window tint was too dark.
A new case of COVID-19 in Auckland has cast a cloud over Australia and New Zealand’s travel bubble, just one week before it is due to begin.
It comes just before the start of the long-awaited trans-Tasman travel bubble, with travellers from Australia able to arrive in New Zealand without having to quarantine from April 19.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned last week the two-way travel bubble could pop should an outbreak occur in either country. Australia briefly suspended the travel arrangement amid a small outbreak in Auckland in February.
