‘If we could send it back to Sydney where it came from, we would’: Daniel Andrews fires a shot at NSW as Victorians aged 16-39 join Pfizer rollout
An irate Daniel Andrews has fired a shot at NSW, as Victoria opens up Pfizer bookings to under-40s and records 50 new local cases.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has urged the state to follow lockdown rules to suppress the Delta strain, saying “if we could send it back to Sydney where it came from, we would”.
In an apparent criticism of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s attempt to keep Sydney as open as long as possible, Mr Andrews said opening up early would see case numbers soar.
“You don’t get to have the Delta variant kind of bubble along – ‘Oh we can just keep it at 20 a day’ – No you can’t,” he said.
“It’s 50 a day now. If we opened up tomorrow it won’t be 50, it’ll be much, much higher.”
Mr Andrews said not enough people were vaccinated and to open up before vaccination rates hit 80 per cent would see hospitals overwhelmed with Covid patients.
“I’m not pleased to be in this position, you know if we could send it back to Sydney we would,” he said.
“But we can’t do that, that’s not the way this works.
“We all have to work together, we all have to find a way to get through this while we as fast as possible vaccinate everybody and get to that rate of 80 per cent and then we’ve got lots of options.”
Mr Andrews’ comments came as he announced Victorians aged between 16 and 39 would be able to book a Pfizer jab from 7am on Wednesday at the state-run vaccination centres.
He also announced an extra 830,000 first dose vaccination appointments would be made available, which would be split about 50 per cent between the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs.
Mr Andrews said the vaccine appointments had been opened up as the government now had certainty the extra doses Prime Minister Scott Morrison secured from Poland would arrive.
Victorians aged 16 and 17 years old will only be able to get the Pfizer jab as they are not eligible for AstraZeneca under the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advice. Those aged 60 and over will continue to receive AstraZeneca.
When people arrive for their vaccine appointment at one of the state hubs they will be offered both vaccine and will therefore be able to choose their jab.
Those who have already made an appointment will also be offered both and don’t need to change or cancel their appointment.
Mr Andrews again urged people not to cancel their existing appointments in order to book a Pfizer jab after more than 15,000 AstraZeneca bookings were binned on Monday.
The government has a goal of more than one million doses in arms over the next five weeks and Mr Andrews said the state was on track to exceed that.
“A booking is the most important way and the only way you can get into this system unless you are a priority worker,” he said.
The expansion will result in an extra 2 million Victorians becoming eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, while about 1.7 million Victorians aged 16 to 59 have already received the jab.
The announcement comes as Victoria recorded 50 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, including 10 more mystery cases.
The state’s health department confirmed the new locally acquired infections and said 40 of the 50 new cases could be linked to existing outbreaks.
But alarmingly, only 11 cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period, meaning 39 were out in the community.
Seven of the new cases were associated to the Shepparton cluster, which Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar revealed had now been genomically linked to the Glenroy outbreak in Melbourne.
A further six cases were linked to the MyCentre Childcare in Broadmeadows, 12 were linked to the Newport cluster, six were linked to the Al-Taqwa College and Hobsons Bay outbreak, four were linked with the Royal Melbourne Hospital and five were known household and primary close contacts of earlier cases.
Hopes of the lockdown being eased on September 2 are fading fast after the state recorded five straight days of 50 local cases and above.
But when asked if there was any chance of getting a ring around the outbreak by September 2, Mr Weimar said he remained hopeful.
“If we continue to work together, we have pulled six, seven outbreaks now in the last eight months, so collectively as a Victorian community we can absolutely do that,” he said.
“We can cap the rising cases and get it down, because if we don’t, we are looking at the other side of the Murray River and that’s what is awaiting us.
“Those primary close contact numbers will continue to rise but the onus is now on the wider community because this Delta moves frighteningly quickly.
“We will go as hard as we possibly can but we need everybody to realise that if you continue to socialise, if you continue to see each other at home, if you continue to pop in and see your mum (there is a risk).”
There are now more than 660 exposure sites in multiple suburbs across metropolitan Melbourne and more than 14,000 people remain in isolation across the state.
There are now 522 active cases across the state, up from 494 on Monday.
Mr Weimar said 113 of the 522 active cases were aged 9 and under, 101 were aged between 10 and 19 years old, and 92 were aged in their 20s.
One new case were recorded in hotel quarantine on Tuesday.
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