Live breaking news: Australia secures an additional 20 million doses of Pfizer, but they won't be here for a while
Australia has secured an extra 20 million doses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine, the one anyone under 50 is advised to wait for. But they'll be waiting for quite a while.
Australia has secured an additional 20 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccination - the jab that people aged under 50 have been advised to wait for.
But those Aussies will be waiting for quite a while, with Scott Morrison conceding that much-needed supply will not arrive until the end of the year.
The Prime Minister announced the deal, which was hatched overnight, at a press conference today at the end of the National Cabinet meeting with states and territories.
Australia's bungled COVID vaccine rollout was top of the agenda, following the news late on Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine is no longer the preferred jab for those under 50 in most circumstances.
The vaccine's link to very rare but serious blood clots has seen it fall out of favour with countries around the world.
This live blog has now ended. Read on below for all the earlier updates.
Updates
Boy critical after ute crash in Sydney’s northern beaches
A boy is in a critical condition after reports he was allegedly struck by a vehicle in Sydney’s northern beaches, police have said.
Emergency services were called to Pittwater Rd near Balgowlah Rd in Manly after reports the child was hit by a ute about 3.40pm.
The boy was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being flown to Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick. He is in a critical condition.
Picture: Julie Cross
The male driver of the ute will be taken to Northern Beaches Hospital for mandatory testing, NSW Police said in a statement.
Northern Beaches Police have established a crime scene which will be examined by specialists from the Crash Investigation Unit.
Anyone with CCTV or dashcam is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
“The last taste of summer has gone. It’s going to be noticeably colder,” Sky News Weather metrologist Alison Osborne said on Friday.
Snow at lower levels, hail, rain and strong winds are all possible.
The first of the two cold fronts has already passed through Victoria with Melbourne peaking at just over 17C on Friday, far chillier than the almost 30C on Thursday.
🌊🌊🌊Large swells will impact Tas, Vic, & SA this weekend bringing dangerous waves to coastal areas. These will be hazardous for coastal activities such as 🎣rockfishing, 🚣boating and 🏊swimming.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) April 9, 2021
A second colder front is also set to sweep through on Sunday. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has said another hazard will be huge waves heading to shore from the south west, some as high as 10 metres.
These could hit much of the South Australian coast, western Victoria and western and southern Victoria from late Saturday to Sunday morning.
Oatlands drug driver who killed kids sentenced
–Heath Parkes-Hupton, NCA NewsWire
A driver who was on drugs, drunk and speeding when he ploughed into a group of children in Sydney’s northwest, killing four of them, has been jailed for a minimum of 21 years.
Samuel William Davidson was handed a head sentence of 28 years with 21 years non parole at Parramatta District Court on Friday for the tragic crash in Oatlands that killed siblings Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna Abdallah, 8, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11.
With time already served he will be eligible for release in January 2041.
The four children died when the Mitsubishi Triton ute driven by Davidson, who was heavily intoxicated, mounted a footpath and slammed into them from behind near Oatlands Golf Club on February 1, 2020.
Davidson had been drinking for 12 hours at his home nearby and was travelling at up to 133km/h in the seconds before he crashed into seven kids who were walking to buy ice cream.
Plan hatched to reopen Australia
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the National Cabinet agreed on new principles to coronavirus management and “reopening” the country.
Mr Morrison said the states and territories would follow principles around the vaccine rollout, virus suppression, testing and tracing measures and proportionate responses that remain consistent and are focused on “wellbeing”.
National Cabinet has also put questions to the medical expert panel about Australians who have been vaccinated overseas, and whether they'll need to quarantine when returning home in the future.
He also urged all jurisdictions to adopt AHPPC advice to ease venue restrictions to the one per two square metre rule.
“Agree to adopt the AHPPC advice that large, ticketed and seated gatherings can have 100% capacity,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison also said the issue of state borders was raised with the Premiers and territory leaders.
Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage
He said the National Cabinet agreed to "prioritise local containment measures and aim for outbreak responses that keep internal borders open".
The Prime Minister said National Cabinet also asked the expert medical panel questions about Australians who have been vaccinated overseas.
“No one is saying that any of those things are coming in today, but what we are working and planning for and have tasked the medical professionals who advice us on, is what are the marks we have to meet to enable us to start opening up Australia more than we are now?”
“We already have the New Zealand open arrangement. We welcome that and we look forward to the success of that in the coming months.
“That will give us a greater deal of confidence about when we can move to other countries.”
Australia secures more vaccines with a catch
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said Australia has secured an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
But there’s a catch, Australia will not received these doses until the end of 2021.
“The Australian Government has secured overnight an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in line with the advice of the scientific advisory group on vaccines led by Professor Brendan Murphy,” Mr Morrison said.
“Through our advance purchase agreement with Pfizer these additional 20 million Pfizer doses means that Australia will now receive a total of 40 million Pfizer doses in 2021.
Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage
“It is anticipated that these additional 20 million doses will be available in quarter four of this year, that's our current instruction, and we will obviously be doing everything we can to seek to move that forward where we can but that is very welcome news, particularly in the light of the information that we received from ATAGI last night.”
Mr Morrison said the agreements now take the total amount of doses secured for Australia to 170 million.
He said it had been a “fairly busy” evening working with Pfizer and the company had been a “very good partner”.
Prime Minister to speak soon
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison is giving a press conference at 1.15pm AEST.
Mr Morrison has been attending a National Cabinet meeting with the state and territory leaders.
We’ll bring you the latest here as it comes to hand.
Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
‘Massive outages’ for Vodafone users
Vodafone is experiencing nationwide outages just hours after social media sites Facebook and Instagram went down on Friday morning.
“Data services may be falling back to 3G intermittently, causing congestion and slower speeds for customers,” it said.
“We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and thank customers for their patience.”
We are aware of an issue impacting 4G services nationwide. Data services may be falling back to 3G intermittently, causing congestion and slower speeds. We are working to resolve this issue ASAP. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank customers for their patience.
Vodafone customers reported “massive outages” and claimed they could not access their data.
“Massive Vodafone outage. Only have 3G and can’t make calls or access data,” one Twitter user said.
Another wrote: “Big probs – my phone tells me Vodafone has ‘temporarily switched off the network.”
– Additional reporting NCA NewsWire
Patients evacuated from Qld hospital over mattress fire
Patients at a Brisbane hospital were forced to evacuate the building after a mattress was reportedly set on fire.
The mattress is believed to have been intentionally set on fire by a patient in the mental health ward of the Princess Alexandra Hospital, according to the Courier Mail.
Patients and staff were forced to evacuate due to smoke inhalation.
Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire
“One patient and one staff member required further treatment for smoke inhalation or related medical events as a result of the incident,” the hospital said in a statement.
Both are in a stable condition.
Patients from the mental health ward have been placed in alternative wards while significant cleaning and repairs are underway.
All AstraZeneca vaccines paused in NSW
NSW Health has placed a temporary pause on administering AstraZeneca vaccines to all age groups across the state.
The announcement comes after the Federal government said the vaccine candidate would not be administered to people under the age of 50, unless under special circumstances.
NSW Health told The Sydney Morning Herald the vaccine has been paused for everyone so consent information, with vaccinations for those over 50 expected to restart later today.
“As with all other vaccines, informed consent is required before administering COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring recipients make decisions based on an understanding of the risks and benefits,” the department said.
“Following the new advice from the Commonwealth last night, informed consent information will be updated to provide patients and those administering the AstraZeneca vaccine with the latest information.”
State’s huge change for driver’s licences
Queensland is on the verge of introducing digital driver’s licenses, allowing motorists to ditch physical identification cards.
The Sunshine State revealed the rollout was one step closer following last year’s successful trial of the licence app north of Brisbane on the Fraser Coast, where drivers glowingly endorsed the progressive move.
Over a seven-month period, more than 750 residents and 120 drivers were able to ditch their physical driver’s, identification and boating licences and display information on mobile phones.
The success of the pilot scheme will come into consideration for a broader rollout across Queensland, a Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said in a statement to NCA NewsWire.
“The pilot allowed residents to access their driver’s licence, recreational marine licence and photo identification card on the app,” the department said.
