Coronavirus live news Australia: Therapeutic Goods Administration approves AstraZeneca for local manufacturing
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has granted approval to AstraZeneca for its COVID-19 vaccine to be manufactured in Australia.
- Vaccinated Australians could quarantine at home: Murphy
- Wild weather delays vaccine distribution
- Overseas spectators banned from Tokyo Olympics
That concludes The Weekend Australian’s live coverage of the day’s political events.
In major developments, vaccinated Australians could quarantine at home for a shorter period of time by the end of the year under a possible quarantine shake-up. Meanwhile, the Department of Health has blamed wild weather in NSW for delaying the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Phase 1b will begin from tomorrow and see six million Australians, including the over 70s and Indigenous and Torres Straight Island residents, become eligible for the jab.
Olivia Caisley6.30pm:AstraZeneca approved for local manufacturing
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has granted approval to AstraZeneca for its COVID-19 vaccine to be manufactured in Australia.
The TGA approved the local manufacture of the vaccine on the eve of “phase 1B” in which six million Australians, including older people and those with underlying medical conditions, will be eligible for a jab.
It follows weeks of frustration over the slow rollout of imported doses that had been approved by the TGA on February 16.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the manufacturing approval meant the commonwealth could forge ahead with its national vaccination strategy that relied on the assumption it could use 50 m doses of locally-made AstraZeneca.
“It is the fundamental approval which allows Australia to proceed with our national vaccination strategy based on 50 million doses of Australian-made vaccines,” he said.
“In addition each batch has to be individually tested, with the first batches expected to be approved and released in the coming days.”
Mr Hunt said 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca, which had been produced overseas, had already been distributed for use by those eligible to receive a vaccine in “phase 1B”.
The TGA said the approval was a critical and exciting milestone.
“Manufacture of biological medicines such as vaccines is a highly specialised process and the establishment of Australian manufacture of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca by CSL – Seqirus has involved extensive work by both industry and the TGA over the last six months,” they said.
The TGA said specific manufacturing approval was required to ensure that locally produced doses had exactly the same composition and performance as those from overseas and were “made to the same quality” and “free of contaminants.”
Dow Jones4.30pm:Europe facing a cloudy summer
A rapid COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the US holds the promise that millions of Americans can return to beach vacations, barbecues and road trips this summer.
By contrast, Europeans are facing what could be a summer of discontent.
European Union governments had hoped that enough Europeans would be vaccinated in the early part of 2021 to loosen restrictions and allow for a relatively normal summer. For millions of businesses that have hung on all winter — especially in Italy, Greece and Spain, where tourism makes up a large chunk of jobs and economic activity — that would have been an immense relief.
Instead, the slow pace of the EU’s vaccination campaign, compounded by recent concerns over the safety of AstraZeneca’s shot, means Europe’s economy will lag far behind the US Some tourism-dependant countries such as Spain could even contract again this year.
A number of EU countries — including France and Italy — have reinstated strict restrictions and partial lockdowns as they continue to combat high levels of coronavirus infections. According to Google Mobility data, visits to retail and recreation spaces like restaurants, cafes and shopping centres in Western Europe are half the level of pre-pandemic traffic. In the US, visits are about 10 per cent below the level when coronavirus hit.
Those restrictions mean the eurozone economy was already expected to contract during the first three months of 2021, entering a double-dip recession, while the US economy is expected to grow 1.5 per cent over the same period.
Now, the slow vaccination campaign suggests the eurozone’s economy will remain mired for months. Big EU countries such as France, Germany and Italy have administered at least one vaccination shot to less than 10 per cent of their population, compared with 23 per cent in the US.
Read the full story here.
Robyn Ironside3.13pm:Island facing food shortage as tourism resumes
Residents of Norfolk Island want tourists to be made aware of food shortages on the island before they travel there so they can bring their own supplies of essential items such as butter and sugar.
The appeal comes as Qantas begins six flights a week to the island from Brisbane and Sydney, potentially delivering thousands of much-needed visitors.
With increasingly long delays between shipments of supplies such as groceries and stock feed, residents fear a backlash from tourists unable to obtain basic goods, as well as wine and beer.
Island administrator Eric Hutchinson said the problem had been exacerbated by the loss of one of the two supply ships servicing Norfolk Island, and the lack of safe anchorage.
“At the moment we’ve only got one ship regularly servicing the island, but it also services and is owned by the Chatham Islands local government enterprise trust off the coast of New Zealand and they have first call on the vessel,” Mr Hutchinson said.
Read the full story here.
Jade Gailberger2.41pm:‘Historic day’ as 6m become elligible for vaccine
Australia will on Monday begin phase 1b of its vaccine rollout which enables six million vulnerable Australians, including those aged over 70, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged over 55, and other healthcare workers to get the jab.
More than 750,000 people had already checked their eligibility via the health department’s website on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
“Tomorrow is an important day in the history of the pandemic in Australia,” Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said.
People eligible for the vaccine are now able to book to receive the jab at more than 1000 GP clinics around the country.
Clinics will only receive 50 doses a week for their most elderly and unwell patients.
About 200,000 doses were allocated to GPs for the coming week and 50,000 doses to GP respiratory clinics.
Prof Kidd said not all clinics would begin vaccinations on Monday but were aware of their initial 12-week dose allocation so they could book patients in for that time.
About 4000 GP clinics have received vaccination approval and will come online as vaccine supply increases to 400,000 doses over the coming weeks.
READ MORE:European agency gives vax the green light despite blood clot concerns
Adeshola Ore2.11pm:Vaccine delays ‘inveitable’ amid disaster
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said there would be “inevitable delays” in the delivery of delays due to flooding in NSW.
“The distributors are doing all they can to ensure timely deliveries and we thank them for the work they are doing,” he said.
“Safety has to come first.”
Professor Kidd said more than 1,000 scheduled deliveries had already been made and the remaining doses would be “ready to go” as soon as the roads were ready as weather conditions improved.
READ MORE: Once-in-a-century disaster unfolding in NSW
Adeshola Ore1.52pm:TGA to approve local AZ jab ‘within days’
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd says the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s approval of the locally made AstraZeneca vaccine will occur in the “coming days.”
Phase 1b will focus on vaccinating six million Australians including older people and those with underlying medical conditions. From tomorrow 1,000 GP clinics will be involved in vaccine administration before the network is ramped up to more than 4,500.
Professor Kidd urged eligible Australians to be patient as the next phase begins.
More to come...
Alister Dawber1.47pm:‘All US adults will have had first dose in 10 weeks’
All American adults will have been offered a vaccination within ten weeks, after President Biden said that more than 100 million people in the US had now received a jab.
Biden, 78, announced a target of vaccinating 100 million people within his first 100 days in office. The mark, which has been hit in 58 days, shows that the US is “way ahead of schedule”, he said. The US has also met requests from Canada and Mexico to share millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is made in Ohio but is not yet approved for use in the US.
“Hopefully we’ll keep the pace of about 2.5 million a day, which we may be able to double,” he said yesterday.
The 100 million-dose goal was announced on December 8, days before the US authorised any vaccine.
By the time Biden was inaugurated in January, 20 million doses of vaccine had been administered at a rate of about a million a day, bringing complaints at the time that Biden’s goal was not ambitious enough.
READ MORE: We underestimate Biden’s America at our peril
Adeshola Ore12.50pm:‘Part-time Porter on full-time salary an insult’
Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally has accused the Morrison government of allowing Attorney-General Christian Porter to resume his cabinet role on a “part-time” basis with a “full-time salary” when he returns to parliament at the end of the month.
Mr Porter, who has faced a historic rape allegation that police will not pursue, will return to parliament on March 31 with reduced ministerial duties to avoid a conflict of interest with his defamation lawsuit. On Monday he launched defamation proceedings against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan, claiming he had been subject to a malicious trial by media over coverage of the allegation, which he has denied.
“Let’s look at the proposition that’s being put here; that Christian Porter can return to his job as Attorney-General on a full time salary, but doing the part time work, that parts of his job will be hived-off artificially to other people,” Senator Keneally told the ABC on Sunday.
Read the full story here.
Jade Gailberger12.10pm:Time for PM to meet the moment: Keneally
John Howard overhauled gun legislation, Paul Keating reset the relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and now Scott Morrison is facing his moment, a senior Labor figure says.
Speaking on Insiders on Sunday, Senator Kristina Keneally said an overhaul of the treatment of women in parliament was the Prime Minister’s Port Arthur massacre moment.
The comments follow thousands of women last week taking to the streets across the country in a march to highlight issues of sexism, misogyny and dangerous workplace cultures.
Senator Keneally said women in every workplace, church and school across this country were talking about their experiences of sexual assault and rape.
“This is a moment where we might learn from reflecting on what previous leaders have done,” Senator Keneally said.
“Think of the Mabo decision and how Paul Keating responded with the speech, and a raft of other legislative and political changes, to reset the relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Think about the Port Arthur massacre where John Howard recognised that a country in mourning and in shock was looking to him to comfort and to assure and to provide safety.
“What the Prime Minister needs to do is listen, reflect and speak from his convictions.”
READ MORE: Australia’s reckoning has begun
Peter Conradi11.33am:Give EU AstraZeneca first ‘or we will blockade exports’
The president of the European Commission has raised the stakes in the vaccine war with a new warning to Britain that Brussels could prevent AstraZeneca from exporting jabs.
Ursula von der Leyen is threatening a blockade of vaccines manufactured in Europe if the Anglo-Swedish company does not first meet its supply obligations to EU countries.
“We have the possibility to forbid planned exports. That is the message to AstraZeneca, ‘You fulfil your contract with Europe before you start delivering to other countries,’” Von der Leyen said in an interview with a group of German newspapers published yesterday.
The threat came before an EU summit on Thursday, which is likely to be dominated by how member states can speed up their vaccination programmes amid fears the Continent is in a third wave of Covid-19 that could be as deadly as the first two.
Senior government figures and scientists warned that the surge in coronavirus cases in Europe makes foreign holidays abroad this summer unlikely.
A cabinet minister said: “It is our duty to stop the third wave from crashing over our shores. No final decisions have yet been taken but the argument is only running in one direction given the relative state of our vaccination programmes and the virus.”
READ MORE:What are the facts on AstraZeneca
Adeshola Ore10.25am:Vaccinated Australians could quarantine at home
Vaccinated Australians could quarantine at home and for shorter periods of time by the end of the year.
Department of Health Secretary Brendan Murphy has flagged a quarantine shake-up as more Australians get vaccinated.
“We might think about reducing the length of quarantine or more home quarantine particularly for vaccinated people. Our risk tolerance will change over the second half of this year,” he told Sky News.
He said Europe’s blocking of vaccine supplies would not impact the October deadline to have all Australians vaccinated because the nation had always been “mostly dependent” on the domestic supply.
This week, AstraZeneca refused to commit to providing Australia with any more doses of overseas-produced vaccines anytime soon as the European Union escalated its threats to block the export of more doses and canvassed seizing the company’s factory production, intellectual property rights and patents.
“At the moment we are still on track to give everyone who wants it their first dose by the end of October and we’re going to try and bring that forward as much as we can,” he said.
READ MORE:GP exodus triggers crisis for regions
Adeshola Ore10.10am:Push for veterans suicide commissioner
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says the Morrison government will continue to push to formalise an ongoing national commissioner for veterans suicide, despite rising pressure on the Prime Minister to establish a royal commission.
A group of Coalition MPs have told Mr Morrison they are willing to cross the floor to establish a royal commission on veterans suicide. Coalition senators have voted with Labor, the Greens and independents to establish the inquiry. The lower house will vote on the motion next week.
Legislation for the Morrison government’s ongoing national commissioner has been held up in the Senate.
“Rather than having an end date it will go on forever in terms of investigating any veteran suicide, being able to make reports to government and being able to hold government to account,” he told Sky News.
“We’ll continue to work to try to convince the parliament that the model doesn’t just give the one-off impact of a royal commission but can achieve the lasting impact of saving veterans.”
READ MORE:PM’s veterans suicide commissioner faces Senate defeat
Joe Kelly9.20am:Hiring credit in line for overhaul
Josh Frydenberg is considering an overhaul of the $4bn JobMaker Hiring Credit aimed at getting younger Australians into work after the program was undersubscribed, with just 521 new hires and $800,000 in payments being made under the scheme.
A stronger than expected economic recovery and a surging labour market, with employment dropping from January’s 6.3 per cent to 5.8 per cent in February, have been cited by the government for the decision to reassess the program.
Announced in the October 6 budget, the hiring credit was limited to those aged up to 35, with Treasury estimating it would support about 450,000 jobs for young people. The credit is available to employers who hire individuals on Jobseeker and paid at a rate of $200 per week for under 30s and at $100 for those aged between 30-35.
Read the full story here.
Adeshola Ore8.46am:Government ‘working with freight companies’ to get jabs out
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says the government is working with freight companies to understand the extent of vaccine distribution delays due to “volatile and dangerous” flooding in NSW.
The NSW State Emergency Service continues to be inundated with calls for help, responding to 750 jobs overnight.
On Saturday, the Department of Heath warned that flooding would delay the distribution of vaccines across the state, with regional NSW particularly affected. The next phase of the national rollout is due to begin tomorrow.
“Clearly there will be expected disruptions for many freight and logistics movements as a result of these floods and vaccines are not exempt from that,” Senator Birmingham told Sky News.
“We’re working with freight and distribution companies that are getting the vaccine from point A to point B to understand how that will be impacted.”
READ MORE:Vaccine war puts supply in doubt
Nicholas Jensen8.30am:Wild weather blamed for vaccine delay
The federal government says NSW’s unfolding weather emergency will delay Monday’s planned rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.
The Department of Health has warned flash flooding would delay the distribution of vaccines across the state, with regional NSW particularly affected.
A spokeswoman for the government said: “Vaccines are being delivered across the country and will be in place in most locations by the end of the weekend.”
However, due to the extreme weather conditions and flooding in many parts of the state, “vaccine delivery is being affected in Sydney and across multiple regional NSW locations.”
“The Department of Health is working directly with GPs on these issues and we ask for the public’s patience with these unforeseen supply delays.”
Phase 1b of the vaccine rollout is set to begin on Monday, with the first locally produced shipment of AstraZeneca expected to be delivered across the country at the beginning of next week.
Health officials have said they will provide an update tomorrow concerning which areas will be particularly affected.
READ MORE:GP phone lines melt down in rush for vaccine bookings
Agencies8am:Overseas spectators banned from Olympics
Overseas fans will be banned from this summer’s pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, organisers said Saturday, in a bid to reduce virus risks and convince a sceptical Japanese public the Games will be safe.
The unprecedented decision will make the Tokyo Games the first ever held without overseas spectators, as organisers scale back their ambitions for the pandemic event.
When the decision to postpone the Games was taken last year, officials said the delay would allow them to hold the event as “proof of humanity’s triumph over the virus.” But instead, the Games are shaping up to be a largely television event for most of the world, with little of the international party atmosphere that usually characterises an Olympics.
In a statement issued after talks between local organisers, Japanese officials and Olympic and Paralympic chiefs, Games officials said the virus situation in Japan and abroad remained “very challenging”.
“Based on the present situation of the pandemic, it is highly unlikely that entry into Japan will be guaranteed this summer for people from overseas,” they added.
As a result, “the parties on the Japanese side have come to the conclusion that they (overseas fans) will not be able to enter into Japan at the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.” The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee “fully respect and accept this conclusion,” the statement added, saying refund details would be released soon.
Read the full story here.
The Times7.45am:Ex-Adviser to spill on Johnson’s Covidiocy
Boris Johnson’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings is ready to reveal all about the depth of the Prime Minister’s Covid paralysis.
On September 18 last year, his most senior advisers met Mr Johnson in an attempt to convince him to push ahead with a second lockdown.
Gathered in the cabinet room were Mr Cummings along with Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, and others including Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, and Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England.
All were convinced of the need for a “circuit breaker” lasting at least two weeks in England given the surge in the number of cases – all, that is, except the prime minister himself.
“Dom said that we can’t let the second wave crash, we can’t repeat the mistakes we made during the first lockdown,” a government source said. “But Boris said no.”
It marked the start of a critical five days in September during which Johnson’s advisers tried – and failed – to convince the prime minister to implement a lockdown. That period will now come under intense scrutiny as Cummings returns to the front line of politics.
On Wednesday Cummings appeared before the Commons science and technology committee, ostensibly to talk about the government’s planned new advanced research and innovation agency that he had championed as Johnson’s right hand man.
Read the full story here.
READ MORE:Boris Johnson apologises as Covid death toll mounts
Australia ‘flooding our aluminium market’: Trump’s top trade adviser
Donald Trump’s senior counsellor for trade has accused Australia of flooding the US market with aluminium and being too close with China, tempering hopes of an exemption from new 25 per cent tariffs.
‘Vile, sickening and shameful’: PM condemns anti-Semitic video
The Prime Minister has shared his revulsion over a video by two NSW Health Department staff threatening to kill Jewish patients and says they have been rightly sacked and should face the 'full force of the law'.