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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Elias Visontay (now), Amy Remeikis (earlier) and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

New South Wales pauses then resumes AstraZeneca rollout – as it happened

What happened today, Friday 9 April 2021

We’ll leave it there for today. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are today’s main developments.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

Updated

Change in vaccine advice leaves tens of thousands in the lurch

States and territories have been left scrambling to respond to government advice recommending against vaccinating anyone under 50 with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, leaving tens of thousands of people in the lurch.

On Friday, New South Wales halted its AstraZeneca rollout entirely for several hours while patient consent forms with the latest information about the rare risk of severe clotting associated with the vaccine were added. The state’s rollout for people aged 50 and over has since resumed.

“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,” a NSW health spokesman said. “AstraZeneca vaccinations for those aged 50 years and over will recommence later today.”

Updated

The alleged victims of accused child abuser Malka Leifer will be cross-examined about their relationship with their mother when they give evidence at a court hearing in relation to the 74 counts of child sex abuse levelled against the former principal of a Melbourne ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls school.

On Friday morning, Leifer appeared before the Melbourne magistrates court via video link for a committal mention, six weeks after her extradition from Israel, where she abruptly moved amid allegations of child sexual abuse in 2008.

Wearing a royal blue sweater and light head covering – a religious Jewish custom to maintain modesty – the 54-year-old hunched forward in her seat at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s maximum security prison in Melbourne’s western outskirts.

Leifer looked downward for most of the hearing, only speaking once to answer “yes” when asked if she could see the court proceedings on the video link – a question she did not respond to during her previous court appearance.

Read the full report here:

Labor MP Josh Burns has criticised the government for failing to deliver vaccines to aged care staff and residents, noting the issue is unrelated to fresh concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine causing blood clotting in those under 50.

Burns’ comments follow reports in the Guardian this morning that the federal government is expected to miss a self-imposed target on delivering “pop-up” hubs to vaccinate critical aged care staff and has given no details on the proposal to workers, despite multiple requests for information and meetings from the nursing union.

Speaking to ABC News’s afternoon briefing, Burns said he had received calls from several aged-care operators in his electorate of Macnamara in Melbourne, and that “they were saying to me that they have had no contact from the federal government about when they’re going to be getting their jabs for both their residents and staff”.

Burns said:

We’ve not had any federal aged care providers in Macnamara receive their vaccinations or have any indication on what day they are going to be having them, not to mention the staff that are still vulnerable and haven’t been vaccinated.

The frustration that Australians rightly have is that the promises that have been made have not been made by the Labor Party, they’ve been made by Greg Hunt, they’ve been made by Scott Morrison, they’ve been telling Australians that they’ve got it under control, that all is well, they are going to be vaccinating Australians and they haven’t been.

This thing is a mess and that’s [got] nothing to do with new advice around the AstraZeneca vaccine for under 50s. This is about aged care providers and vulnerable Australians. They haven’t been doing what they’ve promised and they need to be honest about it.”

You can read more about concerns regarding the vaccine rollout to aged care workers and residents here:

Updated

Women need more information about contraceptive options, experts said, after concerns over rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca Covid jab prompted a debate over side-effects caused by certain forms of the pill.

On Wednesday the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that evidence that the jab could be causing a rare blood clotting syndrome was growing stronger. As a result the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that healthy people under the age of 30 who were at low risk of Covid should be offered a different vaccine if possible.

But the announcement prompted numerous posts on social media questioning why there had been little comment on combined hormonal contraceptives.

Read more:

AMA praises government response to AstraZeneca advice

The Australian Medical Association has praised the government’s response to the medical advice it received on the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and blood clotting.

AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid also commended the announcement that the government had ordered an additional 20m doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and called for the government to continue exploring new deals for alternative vaccines.

Khorshid said:

I want to emphasise the AstraZeneca vaccine for people who are 50 and over is considered very safe and the benefits vastly outweigh any risks. The system has worked as it should. The expert advice has been given and the Government is acting in line with it.

The clotting seen in few patients around the world is extremely rare, quite separate to normal thrombosis, and occurs at about 1 in 250,000. By comparison if you contract Covid-19 the risk of dying is much higher.

This setback may slow down the vaccine rollout, but it also means the rollout is based on the best advice possible – it is not a race to the finish line.

The AMA has always strongly insisted on decisions based on the best scientific advice made independently by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

The job of the TGA and ATAGI is to look at the risks versus benefits and to advise on who should have the AstraZeneca vaccine, and those who should not, based on the situation in Australia where fortunately we have little to no community transmission of Covid-19.”

Updated

A drunk and drugged driver who killed four children after mowing them down on a Sydney footpath has been jailed for at least 21 years.

Samuel William Davidson was driving erratically and speeding when he struck Veronique Sakr, 11, and her cousins, Sienna Abdallah, eight, and her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13.

The children had been walking to buy ice-creams when the 31-year-old ploughed into them after his ute mounted a kerb at Oatlands, in Sydney’s north-west, on 1 February last year.

Judge James Bennett sentenced Davidson in Parramatta’s district court on Friday, saying the menacing, dangerous and aggressive driving sustained over a significant period leading up to the tragic event showed all responsibility to the road safety of others was abandoned.

The tragedy was inevitable, but the magnitude of the tragedy extended to the unimaginable, Bennett said.

Read more:

Another update regarding Western Australia’s border arrangements with Queensland.

Subject to no further community cases, Queensland will transition to ‘very low risk’ from 12.01am on Monday, 19 April. Under this change, arrivals from Queensland will no longer be required to self-quarantine for 14 days on arrival in WA.

WA confirms it will be part of NZ travel bubble

Western Australia’s premier Mark McGowan has confirmed his state will waive quarantine requirements for arrivals from New Zealand, as part of the two way travel bubble with Australia set to begin from 19 April.

McGowan said:

Updated

Berejiklian also said it was now “logical” to move ahead of the phase system, and to offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to NSW residents over 50 who may only be set to receive the jab under future phases of the rollout.

Berejiklian said:

We don’t want doses of safe vaccines just sitting idle, if they’re there and we’re able to get them out the door.

That would make logical sense but we have to wait for the Commonwealth, [they’ve] said that they will update us with a vaccination plan and strategy.”

In announcing that health authorities in New South Wales had resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, Gladys Berejiklian said her state’s vaccination hubs could be rejigged to administer a different type of vaccine, including Pfizer vaccines.

Berejiklian said:

We’re able to interchange what vaccine is used there so if there’s suddenly a supply chain of vaccines that the Commonwealth tells us about, we’re able to administer them safely through our hubs.

Obviously, we need time to adjust in terms of the type of vaccine and what it means. The Pfizer vaccine obviously requires refrigeration. Other vaccines don’t.

So, this is the issue, operationally it’s one thing to say the doses are available, and we’re going to get them to the states but another thing for the states to actually make the operational requirements to get it out the door.

Given what we’ve been told, insofar as how many Pfizer vaccines [the Commonwealth government have said] we have, we certainly have absolute capacity to get that out the door.”

Thanks Amy, and what an afternoon it has been for news.

While Scott Morrison was speaking, I was watching New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian, and will bring you some more from that press conference now.

I’m Elias Visontay. If you see anything you think I should be aware of, you can get in touch with me via Twitter @EliasVisontay, via email at elias.visontay@theguardian.com, and Wickr at eliasvisontay.

Thank you for allowing me a brief dip back into the blog - I’ll hand back to Elias Visontay who will take you through the reaction and the rest of the afternoon.

Politics Live is back on 10 May. Until then - take care of you Ax

Australia’s doctors are urging calm. From the Royal Australasian College of Physicians release:

RACP President, Professor John Wilson said Australians should follow the latest health advice.

It is still far better to be protected from COVID-19 than not. The COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca can be used in adults aged under 50 years where the benefits are likely to outweigh the risks for that individual and the person has made an informed decision based on an understanding of the risks and benefits, as advised by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI),” Prof. Wilson said.

And if you have had your first dose of AstraZeneca, you can get your second:

It is important to note that those who were given their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine without serious side effects can be safely administered with their second dose, including those under 50 years of age.

Health authorities in New South Wales have resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine after halting its rollout earlier on Friday due to blood clotting advice.

NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that AstraZeneca vaccines had been paused for recipients of all ages on Friday morning as health authorities waited for informed consent information to be updated.

Speaking at the same time as Scott Morrison announced Australia’s vaccine strategy would shift from AstraZeneca further behind the Pfizer vaccine, with a total of 40m doses, Berejiklian sought to reassure NSW residents over 50 they could still receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.

While people over 50 have again been allowed to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday, the temporary pause will continue until Monday for eligible recipients under 50.

From Monday, those under 50 will again be able to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in NSW, by which point an updated consent form will be ready.

Berejiklian justified Friday’s “slight pause” as being necessary to brief clinicians and health care workers who might not have had time to understand the new information revealed at the prime minister’s press conference on Thursday night.

Berejiklian said:

It was very difficult to make sure that everybody had that information and we’ll always do what’s in the best interest of our citizens. We didn’t want people turning up and not being aware of what was going on or not.

It’s really important for people to assess their own health risks but if you’re over 50 you should not be overly concerned with getting AstraZeneca vaccine in fact, the chances of you acquiring or getting an adverse reaction are very low.”

NSW resumes AstraZeneca vaccinations

We told you it would be brief – Gladys Berejiklian has announced NSW has resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations – it just needed to change some admin to take into account the new advisory.

Updated

So, what do we take from all of that?

The hour long press conference (just short of 10,000 words uttered in that time, for those wondering) didn’t tell us a lot.

First thing – the government and the expert health advisors want you to know that AstraZeneca is safe for over 50s and if you are in that cohort, you should speak to your doctor about getting the vaccine.

There is no blanket ban on the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under-50 – talk to your doctor about whether or not it is an option for you.

Another 20m Pfizer doses have been added to Australia’s supply contract – bringing the total to 40m (and making Michael McCormack accidentally right when he said Australia had secured 40m doses that one time) but the additional doses aren’t scheduled to arrive until quarter 4 – about six months away.

There is no vaccination timetable beyond phases 1A and 1B at the moment.

Updated

Scott Morrison is doing the fidgeting thing he does as he gets ready to leave a press conference at the end of an answer, so I know this is the last question.

He is asked whether vaccinated Australians will be able to come home easier.

Morrison:

I’m pleased to know that since the September meeting last year, more than 120,000 Australians have come home...we’re seeing a reduction in the number of people registered to come back.

And so that’s welcome. And that’s actually been achieved at a time when we’ve had constraints on arrivals coming in.

I’m pleased that Victoria is opening up to flights again.

That’s really going to assist the task. I’m looking forward to Queensland going back to their capacity. I’m forever thankful to New South Wales for, despite having the challenges they’ve had from time to time, they have kept those flights coming in. If it wasn’t for the New South Wales government, it would be, you know, tens of thousands of Australians who would not be home now.

And we thank them for the great work they have done to support the Commonwealth in achieving those outcomes. As others states have. I look forward to that occurring.

I look forward to the time, as more and more Australians are vaccinated and there’s growing... that we’re able to take these additional steps that national cabinet wants to take.

We really want Australians to know that: A - we’re living in a country at the moment in a way very few others around the world are living. We’re in a position that others envy. If you move around the country, from the west coast to the east coast, people are going out, they’re enjoying getting together as families, they’re going to sporting and cultural events, they are returning at least domestically to a life they knew before the pandemic.

The international borders aren’t open yet. Those sort of things are not occurring yet. But if we keep going down this path, we’ll continue to lead the world in our response to the pandemic and the economic comeback which is growing each and every day.

Annnnd he’s out

Updated

Professor Paul Kelly takes that same question:

I only will just say all of the advice has been given across all countries in Europe and the UK and here in relation to AstraZeneca is based on the same data.

And it’s the context specificity that is important. What it means for our aid to PNG, in a different context, they only have AstraZeneca available, they don’t have a choice, and their risk from COVID, a large COVID-19 outbreak of severe infection, hospitals being overwhelmed, and death, is a real thing. For us it’s a different thing. And the medical advice is based on that current context.

Scott Morrison is asked whether the government has considered rejecting the AstraZeneca advice as ‘bad advice’?

Q: You’ve made a virtue of accepting the medical advice - why shouldn’t some of us see that advice has been bad advice, terribly risk adverse advice, our regulators are taking a more risk adverse attitude than in the UK.

And they’re measuring the risk against zero. But aren’t there any factors they should have taken into account. Why can’t you reject advice, if you all think it’s safe for most of the population, why can’t we just do that?

Morrison:

That’s what the advice says.

The advice does not put a ban on its administration of the doses across the population. It doesn’t do that. It - it informs as to a very remote risk.

And I would think Australians would want to know that.

And it advises a preference where there’s a choice of vaccines. And that’s what it does.

I wouldn’t agree and Professor Murphy or Professor Kelly may wish to speak to this as well, that the advice we receive is inconsistent with what is happening in other places.

That’s not the case across Europe. In some cases it’s even more than where it is in Australia.

Our position on 50 as recommended to us is very consistent with the medical advice across Europe. And if - if all of those European countries had gone down that path, and Australia had taken a different position, at a lower age group, and our understanding from ATAGI, they’re the experts, is that the medical advice supports the age advice of 50.

And that means over 50, they’re very, very strong of the view that those over that - over that age - are not faced with that same remote risk as is there is for a younger population.

Not having the vaccine, particularly for elder Australians, is a greater risk to their health. That’s why I encourage them to take the vaccine.

When it comes to medical advice, I think we’ve been served very well. You don’t get to choose the medical advice that’s provided by the medical experts*.

And as a prime minister, or a Premier, we consider that advice and we make decisions.

We haven’t gone beyond the advice, we haven’t gone below the advice. It’s important we consider other factors in terms of the impact on the economy and things of that nature and we regularly do.

But in relation to this advice, it is sufficiently precautionary. But end of the day, it leaves it in your hands to ensure they can take the advice from their own doctor and ensure they’re vaccinated.

The more Australians that get vaccinated, the more that happens, the more options the Premiers and I have. That’s what Australians want.

And that’s why I want to continue to encourage Australians to speak to their doctors and to participate in the vaccination program. We’re dealing with populations that are not directly impacted by this advice. There’s front-line health workers that are, but I’m confident we can deal with their needs through the supplies we have, more or less in the time frame we hope to do that by. When we move to the next phase, we’ll be addressing that in the weeks ahead.

*Pretty sure the premiers who were heavily criticised in the past for closing borders also didn’t choose the health advice they followed, but at least we are all on the same page now. Amazing how that happens.

Government cannot outline new vaccine timetable.

Not in 1A or 1B (like most of us) – the government can’t tell you when you will receive your vaccine.

Scott Morrison:

We’re not in a position at the moment to reconfirm a timetable. We’re not in that position.

And I’m not going to do that. Regardless of the invitation.

We’re going to work through the implications of this most recent medical advice, for the calibration of the rollout.

And the fact that we’ve now been able to secure an additional 20,000 Pfizer vaccines for quarter 4 is very encouraging.

And on the suspension of the NSW vaccination program (expected to be brief), Morrison says:

I spoke to the New South Wales premier about this today.

It’s an administrative issue, not a medical issue. They are updating their systems to have the new consent arrangements put in place. So to categorise as some sort of medical ban on New South Wales would be false. It would be incorrect. It would be misleading. And ... I don’t think that would be a good way to describe it in those terms.

I have spoken to the premier. They put this in place simply to update their forms. It’s an administrative process.

It’s not about the vaccine.

I’ve had that directly from the premier. So, I would caution people not to be concerned by that process. It’s simply a matter of updating the systems, to reflect what has occurred overnight, to ensure the appropriate consent forms are in place, and that we can ensure that that consent provision is being respected by the governments, at a state and federal level, and individuals can have that appropriate consent.

Updated

Does the Pfizer vaccine change anything for GPs and (eventually) pharmacies (unlike AstraZeneca, the Pfizer vaccine requires special needles and special refrigeration requirements – it has to be kept at -70 degrees.)

Brendan Murphy:

The GP program continues. There are most of the people – the GPs are vaccinating over 50s, over 70s and 80s. They need the vaccine, we’re providing the vaccine, they’re turning up to get vaccinated.

The GP program right through 1A and 1B will continue as it is. As we get to 2A, there’s people over 50 and over 60 who will also be able to go to their GPs to get vaccinated.

It’s true we planned in phase two to roll out pharmacies. We’re looking at how we’ll do that now.

We need to recalibrate to see how we may get more Pfizer and how we deal with the under 50 as we get to phase 2B.

The Pfizer vaccine – there’s TGA registration changes that have would allow the Pfizer vaccine to be transported and stored at refrigeration temperature without – for a longer period of time.

That would make it easier from a logistical capacity, if we were to use Pfizer in mass vaccination clinics or pharmacies.

We’re considering all the options. Given that people are pulling out of appointments, the New South Wales state government announcing they were pausing AstraZeneca for all age groups today.

Are you concerned you are losing control over the vaccine rollout to those voices and giving voices to the anti-vax crowd, and can you stand here today with any certainty and that all adult Australians would have at least one jab by Christmas?

Updated

Asked how he can maintain public confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine (the prime minister received the Pfizer vaccine for those interested, as part of the first rollout) Scott Morrison says:

By doing this, by being very clear in the communication what the medical advice is. The media has a role in play in that as well.

The information is very clear that if you’re over the age of 50, it is recommended that you do have the vaccine. Covid-19, if there were to be another wave in Australia, the people most vulnerable to death from Covid-19 are those who are are in 1B.

You would be putting yourself at risk, you would be putting yourself at risk if you didn’t get the vaccine, because you would be exposing yourself to the more likely event of a Covid contracted condition that could result in serious illness.

So Covid is a much greater threat by a factor many, many times over than the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is a life-saving vaccine and particularly for vulnerable Australians.

That’s why I want my mum to get it, and that’s why I want your mum to get it, and your your dad, your uncle, your aunt, your brother, your sister. That’s a life-saving vaccine.

Updated

Scott Morrison says he wants to get Australia to the point where it treats Covid like the flu:

If we are in a position to have vaccinated 1A and 1B then that has implications for being in a position where we can begin starting to treat Covid-19 like the flu. That’s where national cabinet wants to be.

We want to get Australia to a position where we can treat Covid-19 in the same way as we treat many other viruses.

It doesn’t mean the virus can’t be present, it just means that the virus is not going to lead to the disastrous outcomes we have are seeing overseas.

The flu, every year, sadly has impacts on Australians including fatalities sadly, but that being the case we haven’t engaged in mass lockdowns of our country because of the flu.

But we are not at that point yet and I think we soon will be so we’ll continue to roll out the vaccines from CSL.

We will continue to secure the other vaccines that we have from the other sources and where we have vaccines that we can make available, particularly in our own region as part of the Quad initiative and in the Indo-Pacific and especially for our Pacific family we will certainly be doing that. In fact, I have already diverted a number of those vaccines to assist the effort in both Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.

Updated

So given the previous delays have been blamed on supply issues, how do we suddenly have 20m more doses and can the public trust it? Also, where are the new doses coming from?

Scott Morrison:

The additional vaccines we have been able to secure for the fourth quarter of this year are not vaccines that obviously would have been available here and now.

Here and now we have the availability of vaccines of Pfizer from our original contract which is for 20 million as well as the contracts with AstraZeneca and so supply is the fundamental factor.

The supply of that vaccine and how it’s been used in our vaccination roll out obviously is impacted by the events of the past 24 hours, events that were not foreseen. These issues did not come up with the trials as was said last night.

They are quite rare circumstances where these side effects become apparent. I stress again, that there is no ban or prohibition on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine across the adult population.

There is a recommendation for a preference but these are matters that individuals can discuss with their doctor.

Even when we get to the next phase, in phase 2, we are still talking about millions and millions of Australians over the age of 50 for whom the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended. Not recommended against, recommended for, that AstraZeneca is a vaccine that can be very effectively used and is very effective in supporting Australia’s vaccination program. So all up now we had 170 million doses contracted, prior to today we had 150 million doses contracted but when there are events that require us to be fleet footed, to shore up our supplies then we have taken those decisions but in terms of the roll out and the timing I will leave that to the minister.

Greg Hunt:

Very briefly, I think the key phrase is the timing of supply. So it is the timing of the initial supplies right around the world.

Those countries that were producing their own, in particular the United Kingdom and the United States, had access to very large volumes.

Obviously I think everybody will be aware of the challenges that Europe has faced.

We have been in the fortunate position just as Prof Murphy has shown with the ramp-up because we have had AstraZeneca with home-grown production through CSL allowing us to ramp-up that supply earlier. I think there have been some figures put about but I see it as about 5.5% of the adult population which has out in been reached and has multi-plied by more than fourfold in just over 2.5 weeks.

In terms of the origin, it is for the individual companies to identify if they wish to identify the source, the commercial arrangements are such - and the security arrangements are such – that we have been asked not to identify the particular sources.

I apologise for that but that is understandable. In terms of the investment, our total investment in vaccines alone is over $4bn and our total investment the vaccine program is now over $7bn.

Updated

Why didn’t the government make deals with Moderna (Dolly Parton’s vaccine) and Johnson & Johnson to head off these sorts of problems?

Scott Morrison points back to the expert health advisers:

We took the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group as we have done all through this process. Our entire approach has been to follow the advice of the medical [personnel] who have assessed these matters in great detail and provided their recommendations to government. That group is led by Prof Murphy so I think he is best placed to answer your question.

Prof Brendan Murphy then gets the floor:

So the Scientific Advisory Group strongly recommended that we have a stake in the mRNA vaccine and we went with Pfizer mainly because of its capacity to deliver and it was not a new company and experience has shown they have delivered a whole lot more vaccine than Moderna.

Had we had a contract with Moderna we would have had not very much delivered at this time.

We are focusing on increasing Pfizer, the two vaccines are similar. Johnson & Johnson we have been in discussions with. We have had the AstraZeneca vaccine which is an adenovirus vaccine, Johnson & Johnson is one too.

We still don’t know what the cause of this adverse effect is, whether it relates to just this vaccine or other adenoviruses, we have to wait and see so at the moment we are still exploring with Johnson & Johnson as we have with every other company but every single recommendation of the scientific and technical advisory group that has been made to government has been accepted.

Updated

Will the original 20m Pfizer doses be brought forward and how many of the extra doses will be arriving each week when those quarters (about six months away) roll up?

Greg Hunt:

What’s Pfizer’s indicated we will see an expansion in April. They have asked that we provide the numbers when we have confirmation and so at this stage they are indicating an expansion in April as opposed to the figures we have been approximately 130,000-plus a week.

Again an expansion in May, quite a significant expansion in May. Then in June there’s likely to be a near doubling - sorry July, there’s likely to be a near doubling which will track through to the rest of the year.

I apologise at the request of the company because they haven’t confirmed the exact figures that they ask that we speak in indicative terms. Then the 20 million that has just been purchased at this point in time is settled for the fourth quarter but we are working with them on the possibility of bringing forward as many of those doses as possible. There’s no false promises on that.

Again, so far, we have received about 1m of the 20m Pfizer doses.

Proessor Paul Kelly is repeating the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for over 50 year olds.

There is a double job for the government now – maintain confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine, the only one we have a licence to make in Australia, as well as work out what the new rollout will look like.

Updated

Prof Brendan Murphy is going through what the data releases will look like – you’ll see how many people have been vaccinated, where the doses are going, and how the rollout is progressing.

Scott Morrison interrupts the slide show to point out the federal government’s role:

I just want to note that is the number of commonwealth-administered doses that are occurring in the state, they are not doses being done by the states, they are doses being done within those states by the commonwealth program.

Murphy then repeats the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for over 50 year olds. Morrison says his mum, who is sitting in The Lodge right now, he says, will be getting the AZ vaccine and was happy for him to share that news.

Updated

The short version of that Scott Morrison comment – the states aren’t giving up their powers on when they can close the borders, and no one knows yet when the international borders can be open, or when Australians can travel without having to quarantine on their way back (because we don’t know when they will be vaccinated).

Updated

Scott Morrison on the borders:

What we are asking the medical expert panel to tell us is what are the thresholds that we need to be able to meet to do things such as the following – Australians who are vaccinated being able to travel overseas and return to Australia and not go into hotel quarantine, potentially go into hotel quarantine or not even into home quarantine at all.

That will be a major change and to extent to which Australians returning from overseas who have had recognised vaccines also approved here in Australia with appropriate accreditation can return to Australia on that same basis and to enable potentially down the track travel from low-risk countries with similar vaccine arrangements.

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 advise 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. I have mentioned Singapore before as an obvious next choice but at this stage it is still some time away.

The message from national cabinet is we want to open up more, we want to do it safely, we want to ease restrictions, we want to do that in a consistent way across the country and we want to do that because we know we are not just managing the health but we are managing the economics as well for people’s livelihoods and wellbeing and this is going to be an ongoing and increasing focus of the national cabinet.

We noted the work that is being done in New Zealand and we also note that of course at the end of the day every state and territory is responsible for public health in their own jurisdiction so they haven’t offered up their sovereignty on those issues, that wasn’t likely, but I do very much welcome their agreement to those principles today.

Updated

Qantas had been pushing to open the international borders by October 2021.

Last year, in the budget, Treasury assumed borders would be open in the second half of this year.

At the moment though, with no guarantees under 50s will be vaccinated by the end of the year, that is all in doubt.

Now, according to the ABS, there are about 12 million 16 to 49-year-olds in Australia (Pfizer is recommended for 16-year-olds and over.)

So that is quite a bit of the population, who don’t have a set timeline yet for when they can receive the recommended (at this stage) vaccine.

Updated

Greg Hunt on the timing (a lot of words here, which don’t say a lot):

In terms of the continuity of the program I think it is very important to emphasise that the basic settings as we progress through 1A and 1B and even phase 2A are largely unchanged.

In 1A we will have the aged care residents. We will have the front-line workers and the quarantine workers, those programs in the case of the quarantine and the frontline health workers are largely completed and we thank the states for that.

The aged care, as you can hear, is progressing very significantly with now over 133,000 people vaccinated and then we would have to make a change with regards to ensuring those who are under 50 that still haven’t been vaccinated have access to Pfizer.

With regards to phase 1B, this is the over 70s and the over 80s and the over 55 Indigenous Australians.

All of those can continue to receive with the strongest medical advice the AstraZeneca.

That, I think, is important and we are seeing that in those numbers coming through.

For those who may be immuno compromised or frontline workers who are under 50, then right now we are working with the states and territories and the medical authorities to revise that part of the program so as they have access to Pfizer.

That will take time. We recognise that as those Pfizer doses become available but we are working on that front.

Then as we move into phase 2A, that itself is also focused on the over 50s and over 60s and their access to AstraZeneca remains unchanged.

It is really after that with regards to the under 50s and that is the same time as we start to have very significant doses of Pfizer come onboard. So that’s how we are managing the program.

Updated

Greg Hunt is trying to find all of the silver linings in this mess.

But key here – the extra doses Australia has secured were already part of our contract. That was one of the failsafes put in – we had an option to extend the contract beyond the 20m Pfizer doses (enough for 10m people) already, which is why saying we now need more hasn’t been a giant deal. Still, there has so far only been about a million of those doses delivered. The numbers are all well and good but the important bit here is the timing. And that’s still largely unknown.

Hunt:

As the PM set out we have been able to secure an additional 20 million doses of Pfizer by exercising the capacity within our contract and with rapid negotiations with Pfizer Australia and Pfizer Global.

I do want to thank the head of Pfizer Australia, Anne Harris, and all of those within the department for being able to complete this process for purchasing within such a short period of time.

We already had 20 million Pfizer doses which had been committed for delivery in 2021 and this brings an additional 20 million doses on top of the Novavax 51 million, the AstraZeneca 53.8 million and the COVAX facility 25.5 million taking it to a total available pool of 170 million doses.

Again – those numbers might look great, but it’s the *timing* of the deliveries and then the rollout which is going to be important to most people.

Updated

National cabinet also discussed the government’s response to the Respect@Work report – and the states and territories will have to account for their spending on domestic violence programs.

Scott Morrison:

I was also pleased today to discuss with the states and territories the next phase of the Covid family and domestic violence package.

We are working through that information as you will be aware, it was 130 of the 150 million that the commonwealth put in police as an urgent Covid response last year. That terminating program, that emergency support runs to 30 June.

As I indicated, I think it was yesterday, that we are looking at the next phase of that program but in order to do that I have asked from the states to give us an urgent update on their spending, their acquittal, if you like, of the funds that have already been provided to the states and territories this year, highlighting what their ongoing spending programs are in this area so we can ensure that any commonwealth program is adding – adding – to the overall effort here and of course wouldn’t be replacing any effort.

This remains an urgent issue because Covid is still happening and the impacts, particularly for vulnerable Australian, particularly women and children, as a result of many of the impacts of Covid are ongoing. So we are looking at that favourably but I intend to do that in partnership with the states and territories, equally sharing the challenge both fiscally and in the delivery of programs.

Updated

We are now going to get more data and transparency around the vaccine program rollout.

This is important – the government is now racing to contain any vaccine hesitancy and attempt to maintain faith in the public health response. For that to happen, there needs to be sunlight.

Scott Morrison:

We also agreed today, very productively, and Prof Murphy will take you through the first iteration of this, on data release and transparency measures that will see both daily release of information and Prof Murphy will take you through very shortly what those daily info graphics, that daily information will be that will be available to the public and of course to the media as well as weekly information that shows more detailed data at a state, territory and commonwealth level across both the available doses and the administration of those doses. I am sure you will all find that very helpful in your own reporting and to the public.

Updated

Vaccine roll out to be 'recalibrated'

Scott Morrison on what the national cabinet discussed:

We discussed the recalibration of our vaccination program because of the advice from ATAGI today and that was a constructive discussion and already today states and territories are working with the commonwealth to that end. Our focus remains on the delivery of 1A and 1B cohorts for the vaccination rollout.

This is particularly important because we’re substantively talking here about people who are over the age of 50 and as Prof Murphy reminded us today that includes many health worker, many health workers that are in frontline roles whether working in aged care facilities or otherwise within the health system and particularly amongst the nursing community.

That is not to say there are not those under 50, of course there are, but we are talking about groups where we can continue to proceed with the vaccination roll out at the pace we are hoping to proceed at and to ensure that we meet the goals we have with those 1 A and 1B cohorts.

This is important because the goal here is to protect the most vulnerable in our community.

If we want to treat Covid-19 like the flu then we need to ensure that we’re vaccinating those in our community who are most vulnerable.

The most vulnerable people in our community are not just over 50, they are actually a lot older than that.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is well suited to address those critical vulnerable groups.

We reminded ourselves this morning that the key issue that we were concerned about a year ago as we feared the overwhelming of our public hospitals and all of these rather dire outcomes was because of the vulnerability of our most elderly Australians.

So vaccinating our elderly Australians remains a key priority that also supports the continued opening up of Australia because the risk factor of severe illness amongst the most vulnerable is therefore reduced.

Updated

Scott Morrison moves to the AstraZeneca advisory:

The decision of the commonwealth government, because it is a matter for the commonwealth government to accept the advice of ATAGI on these matters, was understood and supported and I want to stress again that the advice that has been received, the recommendations that have been received from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is not a ban on the AstraZeneca vaccine, it is not a prohibition on the AstraZeneca vaccine, it recommends and notes that the risk of these side effects are remote. They are very rare.

We are talking in the vicinity of five to six per million, which is a rather rare event. But it must be acknowledged.

It’s important so Australians can make informed decisions about their vaccination and their healthcare with their medical professionals, with their doctor. So there was no instruction not to take that vaccine.

There is an acknowledgement of the risk that is there but as is the case always with these matters these are decisions for Australians. Certainly for those who are over 50 there is a strong encouragement to be taking this AstraZeneca vaccine which we discussed today to ensure that we can continue down the path of the vaccination rollout.

Updated

That’s around the same time Australia is also supposed to receive the Novavax vaccine – that is still under clinical trials in the US. It’s a goal we will have it by quarter 3, not a guarantee.

Updated

Scott Morrison press conference

Scott Morrison says the government has secured “another 20 million” doses of the Pfizer vaccine – bringing the Pfizer total to 40m – enough for 20m people (you get two shots of this one).

They won’t be available until quarter four though – that’s the end of the year.

Updated

The first slide is headed “Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, 9 April 2021”.

The only thing we know for sure is there are going to be delays. There are no guarantees the majority of the Australians will be vaccinated by the end of the year.

Updated

After last night’s snap press conference, there are even more questions.

In the 45 minutes or so last night, we had just over 6,500 words from Scott Morrison and the nation’s chief health advisers – but not a lot of answers.

NSW has announced it is suspending its AstraZeneca roll out for a short period while it works out what the advisory announced last night means

Daniel Hurst tells me there is a screen set up for a PowerPoint slide show in the PM’s courtyard – strap in. It is, as Bette Davis once said, going to be a bumpy ride.

Updated

Hello – Amy Remeikis with you for just a moment – I am dipping back into blog coverage to bring you the latest from national cabinet and then I will hand you straight back to Elias, for the rest of the day’s news.

Updated

I’m actually going to handover to my learned friend Amy Remeikis for the next little bit.

Stay tuned!

Scott Morrison will be holding a press conference at 1.15pm.

National cabinet meet today.

I’ll bring you the latest from that when it happens.

Updated

Thanks for taking us through the day so far Matilda.

I’m Elias Visontay, and I’ll be taking you through the next part of the day.

If you see anything you think I should be aware of, you can get in touch with me via Twitter @EliasVisontay, via email at elias.visontay@theguardian.com, and Wickr at eliasvisontay.

And, safe in the knowledge that Britney is protected (from Covid-19, at least) I will leave you for the day.

The amazing Elias Visontay is taking over to take you through the rest of the afternoon.

Updated

Important vaccine update from the United States:

My one act of rebellion is refusing to call South Australia’s hotel quarantine system “medi-hotels” like all their government publications want me to.

Everyone else managed to settle on a consistent name SA, come on!

(Same goes for New Zealand’s “managed isolation facilities”. Jacinda, just admit they are hotels!)

Updated

No new local cases of Covid-19 in South Australia. The two listed here are from hotel quarantine.

Updated

Update from Geelong, Victoria:

Updated

Massive outages on the Vodaphone network seem to be wreaking havoc (or at least mild inconveniences) for mobile phone users across the country.

Around 11am this morning, thousands of users reported issues with 3G and 4G data, with some unable to make calls.

It appears this has affected customers in most major cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Vodaphone has just issued a statement over Twitter saying they are working to fix the issues.

Although now I think about it, I suspect if this is information that is relevant to you, you won’t actually be able to read about it on this blog, because your internet is down.

Updated

NSW pauses AstraZeneca roll out to all age groups

A NSW government spokesman has confrimed the state government has temporarily paused the administration of all AstraZeneca vaccines to all ages at their state-run centres, while they wait for informed consent information to be updated.

The vaccine roll-out is set to recommence later this afternoon.

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.

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.

As such, NSW Health has temporarily paused administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to all age groups at its clinics this morning while the informed consent information is updated.

AstraZeneca vaccinations for those aged 50 years and over will recommence later today.

The Pfizer vaccine will continue to be administered as planned at NSW Health clinics.

Updated

OK, there has been way too much sad news today so here is someone having the time of his life at Southern Cross station in Melbourne.

Updated

Tasmania has officially halted first-dose injections of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people aged under 50 years.

A state government spokesperson said:

The Tasmania government has put an immediate hold on any first dose AstraZeneca vaccinations of people aged under 50 years.

The 1,400 people under 50 who have received their first dose of AstraZeneca are now being contacted and urged to watch out for any symptoms.

Today premier Peter Gutwein said the state’s vaccine rollout would require some “recalibration” after the latest advice.

In terms of what this change means for Tasmania’s planned vaccine rollout, we are working our way through that.

Tasmania’s public health director, Mark Veitch, said the state’s rollout would be slowed in the short term.

It’s really important we get the rollout right. Obviously we cant get the vaccine to everybody at once and we ask people to be patient.

Updated

The Victorian government will spend $33.7 million to roll out new road-safety cameras capable of detecting drivers using their mobile phones behind the wheel, Benita Kolovos from AAP reports.

A trial of the technology was conducted over a three-month period last year, assessing almost 680,000 vehicles.

It found one in 42 drivers were using their mobile phone while behind the wheel.

One in 667 drivers were also caught not wearing a seatbelt, while others were spotted driving without hands on the wheel or with pets on laps.

Acting emergency services minister Danny Pearson said on Friday it was “unacceptable that so many Victorians are putting others’ lives at risk.”

Using your phone while driving is unbelievably dangerous, and this trial has showed just how common it is on Victorian roads.

The trial was conducted from July to October 2020, while the state was under stage-four lockdown, and authorities believe the rate of offending will be higher as traffic returns to previous levels.

The distracted-driving technology, which is already in place across NSW, uses an artificial-intelligence enabled camera system to capture high-resolution images of vehicles in all traffic and weather conditions, at any time of the day.

Images that are deemed likely to contain a mobile-phone offence are then verified by trained personnel.

Research from Monash University’s Accident Research Centre has estimated the technology has the capacity to prevent 95 fatal crashes a year.

Further consultation with stakeholders, testing and demonstrations, as well as a public awareness campaign, will take place before the technology becomes enforceable in 2023.

Updated

Protests to be held around the country tomorrow marking 30 years since royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Next week marks the 30th anniversary of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, and ahead of the event Indigenous leaders have called a national day of action for Saturday, 10 April.

The recommendations of that report, released on 15 April 1991, have still not been actioned and, as Guardian Australia reported today, at least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police and prison custody since it was handed down.

This has led to Indigenous leaders calling a national day of action tomorrow with protests and demonstrations being held around the country.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of all the protests so far:

Saturday 10 April:
Eora/Sydney – 1pm, Sydney Town Hall.
Naarm/Melbourne – 1pm, Parliament House steps.
Meanjin/Brisbane – 10am, King George Square.
Mparntwe/Alice Springs – 11am Court Lawns.
Bundjalung /Lismore – 12am Lismore Environment Centre

Thursday 15 April:
Whadjuk/Perth – 12pm Forrest Place.

Updated

OK, an update on Sydney Zoo.

It looks like those reports suggesting an animal may have escaped are in fact false. The lockdown of the zoo was a safety precaution following the sudden death of Mogli the chimpanzee.

The TV channels did put a helicopter up over the zoo, but I won’t post the photos as it feels invasive given the grief his carers must be feeling right now.

The picture did show teams were searching in the river that separates the chimpanzee enclosure from the public.

Mogli’s body has now been removed from the enclosure.

Updated

No news local Covid-19 cases is NSW today!

Work is continuing at the Carmichael coal mine and rail project after police removed protesters trying to blockade the site in central Queensland, Marty Silk from AAP reports.

The protest by a group of 15 people is the second launched against mine project owned by Bravus, previous known as Adani Australia, in three days.

Bravus is building a 10 million tonne-a-year thermal coal mine in the Galilee Basin, which could eventually be expanded to six times that size.

The company is also building a rail line that will be opened to other companies if it gets the tick of approval.

Public servant Carine Visschers tried to block vehicles while holding a sign saying “Make Ecocide A Crime” at a worksite entrance near Mount Coolon on Friday morning.

The 63-year-old released a statement”

Ecocide is mass damage and destruction of ecosystems - harm to nature which is widespread, severe and systematic.

Our justice system puts 10-year-old children in prison for damaging property, but enables billionaires like Adani (Bravus) to increase their fortune damaging our land and ecosystems and destroying our children’s future.

We need to make ecocide a crime to have the hope of a liveable future.

A Bravus spokesperson told AAP work at the Mount Cooton site was not affected by Friday morning’s protest.

Police attended and the protest was finished by 9am with the road cleared for movement.

A group of 20 health workers and academics tried to block vehicles entering a rail construction site off the Gregory Hwy on Wednesday morning.

Calling themselves Health On The Frontlines they said they were protesting the impacts of coal mining and climate change on human health.

Here is that post from Sydney Zoo about the death of chimpanzee Mogli.

Oh no, OK another update on Sydney Zoo.

I’ll bring you more as soon as I can.

Updated

I’m not going to lie to you, my only knowledge of Sydney Zoo is from that one episode of The Bachelorette where they did animal-inspired body painting.

Updated

A slightly concerning news update out of Sydney Zoo from Royce Kurmelovs:

Sydney Zoo has been turning visitors away after an animal has reportedly escaped.

Visitors have either been locked inside buildings or told to remain in their cars.

Earlier reports incorrectly named Taronga Zoo as the site of the apparent jailbreak.

A spokesperson for the Zoo could not be immediately reached for comment and details are still unclear as the situation is unfolding.

Social media reports that the animal is an app and the zoon has been in lockdown for at least an hour.

In a separate post to the Sydney Zoo Facebook page, staff announced the death of Mogli, “a beloved member of our chimpanzee troupe.”

Mogli was found in the chimpanzee habitat this morning by staff who are currently investigating the circumstances of the incident.

“The team are in a state of deep shock and grief,” the post said.

If you happen to be one of the people trapped in Sydney Zoo, and are reading the Guardian live blog this morning, please tweet me at @MatildaBoseley or Royce at @RoyceRk2

Updated

Blog reader Tony emailed in a great observation before, which is that in this giant swamp of people talking about the potential (and extraordinarily rare) side effects of the AstraZeneca jab, it’s worth reminding ourselves what the risks of Covid-19 actually are.

Especially in Australia it can be easy to forget how damaging the disease can actually be.

Here is an article from UK Guardian reporter Sarah Marsh from this week that shows one in three survivors of severe Covid have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Updated

Morning coffee game official ruling: ADOPTED

But I should add, I reckon we also sip when the opposition says we are worse off than other countries when it comes to vaccines.

If you are a bit confused this morning over what exactly this new AstraZeneca advisory means or what the actual link to blood clotting is, never fear!

Melissa Davey has created this explainer that breaks it all down for you.

Here is just one of the questions she answers:

What is Australia’s new advice on AstraZeneca?

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, which provides independent expert advice to the health minister, recommended adults aged under 50 receive the Pfizer vaccine as a preferred choice over the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This advice was based on a small but potentially increased risk of developing a rare and severe clotting disorder following the AstraZeneca vaccine being administered in those under 50 years.

The benefits of the vaccine still far outweigh the risk for people age 50 and above, given the serious effects – including clotting and death – Covid-19 presents to older adults especially.

Check out the full article below:

Updated

Australia’s Ramadan will start on Tuesday 13 April 2021, the Australian National Imams Council announced this morning.

Important Islamic calendar dates are based of the new moon, meaning dates are estimated based on when the crescent moon is sighted. But this means there can be variations in dates on a global, regional or local level.

Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamad said in a statement the council are continuing their recent pattern of announcing Islamic calendar dates well in advance to avoid surprise or confusion in the community.

The sun will set on Monday the 12th of April at 5.36pm (Sydney local time) and the moon will appear on the same day after sunset for 17 minutes until 5.53pm where it will disappear thereafter from the horizon.

In the city of Perth, Western Australia, the sun will set on Monday at 5.59pm (Perth local time) and the moon will appear on the same day after sunset for 19 minutes until 6.18pm where it will disappear thereafter from the horizon.

This allows for ample time to sight the moon under normal conditions with the absence of all that hinders the moon from being sighted.

This also means it’s likely the important end of Ramadan celebration, Eid-ul-Fitr, will be most probably celebrated on Thursday 13 May.

Updated

Offical morning coffee game ruling: ADOPTED

The AstraZeneca advisory warning could be reconsidered if Australia experiences a large outbreak, says the co-chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, Prof Allen Cheng.

In a lengthy (and very helpful) Twitter threat last night explaining the ATAGI decision, Cheng said if cases of Covid-19 rose in Australia the risk-benefit balance would change, suggesting the AZ could once again be recommended for people under 50.

Updated

An urgent warning has been issued to holiday-makers camping or travelling in caravans in Western Australia’s north as a tropical cyclone looms, AAP reports.

Tropical Cyclone Seroja is tracking southwest at 23km/h and was 525km northwest of Exmouth in the early hours of Friday.

It is expected to make landfall late Sunday or early Monday between Carnarvon and Jurien Bay.

A cyclone advice alert has been issued by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services for an area spanning from Onslow to Jurien Bay in the state’s Pilbara, Gascoyne and Mid West regions.

Acting DFES commissioner Craig Waters said there were many holiday-makers in the area, many of whom would not have experienced a cyclone before.

Recent rainfall and flooding has already battered the northern half of WA during the current cyclone season.

If you’re in a tent or caravan, you are simply not protected against the damaging winds that may hit the region.

Some roads in the area are still undergoing maintenance to repair damage from recent flooding events and Tropical Cyclone Seroja has the potential to cause further damage making roads unpassable for days, if not longer.

The DFES is urging travellers to reconsider their plans and stay up to date with the latest emergency information.

The size of this potential impact area is another reason to be prepared, because you may need to travel some distance before you are out of harm’s way.

A separate tropical low-lying well to the south of Christmas Island could develop cyclone intensity in the coming days as it tracks east.

The Bureau of Meteorology says it is possible the two systems will rotate around each other when they get close enough, an interaction known as the Fujiwhara Effect.

Seroja is expected to bring dangerous weather conditions to the west coast on Sunday or Monday.

Updated

The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, has hit back at comments saying the government put all their vaccine eggs in one basket.

He spoke on ABC radio Melbourne. I’m still tracking down the full interview but for now here are some updates from Australian Financial Review reporter Tom Mcllroy.

Updated

The opposition leader has been asked if Labor has risked undermining confidence in the vaccine program by constantly criticising the government.

Albanese:

We’ve been constructive the whole way through.

There wouldn’t have been a day went past that either Chris Bowen, while he was the health shadow, or Mark Butler since, or myself as the leader, or Penny Wong as the Senate leader, haven’t pointed out some of the weaknesses in [Australia’s] strategy. That’s our job, to be constructive.

We have done our job, Scott Morrison has not done his job and he had just one job, to get this vaccine rollout right. And it is that failure that’s undermining going forward, because anyone who looked at last night’s media conference would have seen a prime minister, a health minister, being confused, being uncertain.

It’s Scott Morrison that said that he would underpromise and overdeliver when he said there would be four million Australians vaccinated by the end of March. The fact that hasn’t happened undermines confidence and the undermining of that sits squarely with Scott Morrison.

Updated

Albanese:

Now, Labor will always accept the advice of the TGA and ATAGI. And we accept the advice they have given to the government overnight.

But we also say they should have listened to the expert advice that was given to the government and indeed to all governments about not placing all our eggs in one basket. About making sure that we hedged our bets, if you like, because we knew, just like the UQ vaccine fell over, we knew that there can be issues with the rollout of a vaccine such as this.

Which is why international best practice would have had us do deals over Moderna, over Johnson & Johnson. In the UK, with the changes made to AstraZeneca, they can just be replaced. And more use of Moderna, for example, in the UK, can fill that void. Here in Australia, we’re not in that position which is why there is such uncertainty.

Updated

Anthony Albanese going for a deep cut here with a scandal from February:

Scott Morrison likes using the Liberal party logo on announcements related to the vaccine.

Well, Australians won’t forget who is responsible for failing to deliver on what are his own promises and his own commitments when it comes to these issues.

Updated

We are used to starting Covid-19 press conferences by comparing Australia to other countries across the world. It’s just usually a more favourable comparison than this.

Albanese:

Scott Morrison said that we were at the front of the queue. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Australia’s struggling to get into the top 100 when it comes to the rollout of the vaccine. Where in areas like the United Kingdom we have 60% of the adult population have been vaccinated. Israel’s right at the top with 100% of their population being vaccinated.

And we’re struggling to get beyond 2 or 3% at this point in time.

Scott Morrison said and repeated on January 7 the clear commitment that 4 million people could be vaccinated by the end of March. We know that figure is less than 1 million to even receive their first jab.

Scott Morrison has tried to redefine when people are vaccinated from having two jabs by the end of October, into having just one. Trying to change the goalposts and yesterday he couldn’t even say if people would be vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Updated

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has called the rollout of the vaccine a “debacle”, blaming the government for not purchasing a wider range of vaccines.

Have got this wrong. The rollout of the vaccine is a debacle.

We now have circumstances whereby just under 20% of aged care residents have been vaccinated. They have stopped promising to roll out the vaccine to aged care staff and are now telling aged care staff to check with their GP.

Labor was warning for a long period of time that we needed to do what international best practice told us we should do, to have access to five or six vaccines. The fact that we now have such uncertainty about the rollout is a direct result of an arrogant government that was too focused on the 24-hour media cycle and not focused on what Australia needed.

Updated

AstraZeneca issued a statement last night in response to the Australian government’s decision to recommend against the vaccine for people under 50, saying, “We respect the decision taken by the Australian government based on advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI)”.

ATAGI is an independent advisory group made up of medical experts and it advises the health minister, Greg Hunt.

“Regulators around the world, including the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), have reviewed the rare clotting events and did not identify any risk factors, such as age or gender, or a definite cause for these extremely rare events,” the AstraZeneca statement said.

However, they came to the view that these events have a possible link to the vaccine and requested they be listed as an extremely rare potential side effect.

In addition, the World Health Organisation noted today that, whilst concerning, the events under assessment are very rare, with low numbers reported among the almost 200 million individuals who have received the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine around the world.

Overall, regulatory agencies have reaffirmed the vaccine offers a high-level of protection against all severities of Covid-19 and that these benefits continue to far outweigh the risks.

We note that the current situation in Australia with very low to no community transmission of Covid-19 was a factor in this updated recommendation from ATAGI and their view that the risk-versus-benefit assessment for the use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine may be different for Australia compared to other countries, such as those with widespread transmission.

Patient safety remains AstraZeneca’s highest priority and we continue to support regulators in Australia and overseas. Tens of millions of people have now received our vaccine across the globe.

Updated

Also no local Covid-19 in Victoria, and they have changed their graphic design formatting and I don’t know how to feel about that. I do enjoy the large vaccine counter though.

No local Covid-19 cases in Queensland!

The company AstraZeneca released a statement last night following the Australian decision to recommend people under 50 do not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.

They have defended their product, saying it’s successfully helped protect millions against Covid-19 across the world:

Overall, regulatory agencies have reaffirmed the vaccine offers a high-level of protection against all severities of Covid-19 and that these benefits continue to far outweigh the risks.

AstraZeneca has been actively collaborating with regulators and expert advisory groups around the world, including the TGA and ATAGI in Australia to understand the individual cases, epidemiology and possible mechanisms that could explain these extremely rare events.

We note that the current situation in Australia with very low to no community transmission of Covid-19 was a factor in this updated recommendation from ATAGI and their view that the risk-versus-benefit assessment for the use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine may be different for Australia compared to other countries, such as those with widespread transmission.

Updated

474 black deaths in custody since royal commission

If you read one story today, read this.

From Guardian Australia’s Lorena Allam, Calla Wahlquist and Nick Evershed:

At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police and prison custody since the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody handed down its final report in 1991, new research has revealed.

Guardian Australia has spent the past three years tracking Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths in custody for the Deaths Inside project.

The first time we published, in August 2018, an exclusive analysis of 10 years of coronial data found 407 Indigenous people had died in police or prison custody since the end of the royal commission in 1991. In 2019, that figure had increased to 424.

Today, it stands at 474.

At least five of those deaths have happened since the beginning of March this year.

You can read the full report below:

Updated

A man is on the run after allegedly stabbing a 16-year-old boy to death in Brisbane’s CBD, reports AAP.

Police say the man allegedly stabbed the teenager in the stomach at Emma Miller Place near Roma Street train station at about 8pm on Thursday.

It is alleged the boy was known to the man.

The boy then walked to nearby King George Square where he keeled over and collapsed in front of Brisbane City Hall.

Queensland Police and paramedics were called and the 16-year-old was then rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital where he died.

The man is still on the run on Friday morning.

He’s believed to have headed towards Roma Street Parklands after the attack, but detectives are reviewing CCTV footage to confirm that.

They have called for any witnesses to come forward.

Updated

Keneally says the government’s response to the Respect@Work report has nothing concrete to “back it up”:

I welcome the fact the government has actually recognised this report exists and responded to it. There are things we welcome. Particularly there’s no wrong door for someone to go through in terms of bringing forward a complaint about sexual harassment, there are changes here that are welcome.

But, there’s no legislation, there’s no funding attached, there’s no reporting mechanism, the devil here is in the detail.

What do we see in 24 hours, that the prime minister’s claiming he has accepted all the recommendations, it’s been undercut by the sex discrimination commissioner herself when she said they missed the opportunity to shift from a culture of with all the responsibilities put on the complainant, to one where employers have to take a proactive approach to ensuring and working to ensure that sexual harassment and other forms of disrespect of women in the workplace do not occur.

Updated

The shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, has attacked the government’s response to the Respect@Work reports, labelling it a “missed opportunity”.

The Morrison government released their response to the report into sexual harassment in Australia, and while some important changes were made – including victims now having two years to bring complaints forward rather than six months, and sexual harassment now being explicitly defined as a valid reason for dismissal – the government has only promised to “assess” one of the key recommendations which would make companies legally responsible for proactively preventing sexual harassment rather than committing to implementing it.

Keneally appeared on ABC News Breakfast just before:

I have to laugh at this. It’s a rueful laugh, it’s not one of joy. Because the government sat on this report for 12 months. They did not respond to it until they faced multiple crises and the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.

They have not consulted with business, they have not consulted with women’s groups. Christian Porter had not even met with the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins.

We saw her own words, this government’s response is a missed opportunity. Not my words, Kate Jenkins’s own words, the government – Scott Morrison goes out there yesterday, said I have accepted all these recommendations. We hear from Kate Jenkins he hasn’t.

As always with the prime minister, it’s about the announcement, it’s never about the plans, the follow through and the delivery.

Updated

Dying Australian man finally home after 14 months trapped overseas

Quickly there is some good news this morning! In fact great news!

If you have been following along you might remember the Guardian has been reporting on John Jobber, a terminally ill Tasmanian man who has been trapped for the last 14 months in Ireland unable to get home.

He visited the UK and Ireland in early 2020, intending to spend a few weeks with his daughter and say goodbye to old family and friends. But suddenly the pandemic broke out and Australia’s borders were closed.

His daughters, Samantha John in Melbourne and Michele Jobber in Ireland have been fighting tirelessly to get back to Tasmania to fulfil his final wish of dying peacefully at home.

But multiple attempts to fly to Melbourne were thwarted by lockdowns in both countries, and Victoria’s stopping and starting approach to international flights and hotel quarantine.

Well finally, after more than a year, Jobber touched down in South Australia last night and is now safety quarantining in an Adelaide hospital.

Samantha said she was delighted to finally have him home:

It’s been a rollercosters. I’m relieved and anxious.

After Guardian Australia first reported on Jobber’s situation, Qatar Airlines reached out to the family and helped them book new flights. The plan was Michele would fly to Australia with her father, who is suffering from severe dementia, to ensure he was safe and took his medication. They would land, he would go to hospital and she would get straight back on a plane to Ireland.

But, Samatha explained even hours before take-off, it still looked like they might not make it.

My sister was frantically finalising all the paperwork, packing, doing PCR tests and getting him to his last dialysis when a text came through just saying the flight was cancelled “due to operational reasons”.

We couldn’t believe it. So she contacted [the families Qatar Airline representative] to ask why. He said “hold on I’ll get back to you”.

Before he rang back an hour or so later, another text message had been received confirming the flight will go ahead as scheduled.

He rang back and said there was no way THAT flight was going to be cancelled on his watch.

Around 9 pm last night Jobber touched down, said a quick goodbye to Michele and was whisked off to hospital for quarantine and dialysis.

Now all that is left is for Samantha to get him back to his home:

The baton has been handed to me to get him safely back to Tasmania via Victoria between dialysis sessions and then his ongoing care...

I’m looking forward to a huge hug with him.

You can read our previous coverage here:

Updated

A number of different countries have issues of different ages for AstraZeneca advisories. Paul Kelly has been asked why Australia settled on “50” as the cut-off:

I can understand that people are interested in how those decisions have been made.

It’s important that local context* is taken into account and that’s what’s happened and has presumably influenced other advice. We have been in very close contact with our European colleagues at the European medicines association, the ATAGI equivalent as well in Europe as well as in the UK, the regulator and their immunisation advisory group, they have used exactly the same data as we have been using because most of these extremely rare events have happened in Europe and in the UK and that’s where many millions of doses have been used of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

It is the same data but taking into account local circumstances. We have chosen – the choice by the medical advisory group is 50. That’s based on that risk-benefit equation** for the Australian circumstances. So that’s what we’re going with.

* The local context is that the UK said “under 30’s”, but we had a 44-year-old man that suffered from non-fatal blood clotting, so have gone “under 50” instead.

** Basically, while the 30 to 50 age bracket is slightly more susceptible to serious Covid-19, there is vastly less Covid-19 in Australia so they are still considered low risk.

Updated

Chief medical officer Paul Kelly seems reasonably confident that the vaccine rollout delay won’t drastically change Australia’s ability to live normally:

The Australian Health Protection Committee with the Chief Health Officer group that I chair has had really strong and meaningful and very good discussions about our reactions to outbreaks and so forth, including the issue of border closures, and that information will go to national cabinet today and will be discussed by the premiers and the prime minister and I’ll be there to assist them.

Updated

Paul Kelly has been asked if Australia needs to be making additional deals with international vaccine producers in order to make up for the shortfall:

All of those things are on the table. We are looking at all of those options right now.

We know that Novavax, we have 51 million doses on order, but that’s not yet approved by the TGA. We don’t have the final components of their clinical trials but, when we do, the TGA, as it did with the other two vaccines we have been using in the last couple of months will absolutely expedite that matter and as soon as Novavax is ready to supply to Australia we will be going through those processes.

In terms of Pfizer, as I say, we are talking to that company and we have been talking to that company. We continue to talk to that company and we’ll see what transpires from those talks.

Updated

Chief medical officer Prof Paul Kelly says the benefits of the vaccine program still “far outweigh the risks”, urging the public not to lose confidence.

He is speaking on ABC News Breakfast now:

Of course, something like the announcements overnight can affect vaccine confidence.

As I said last night at the press conference, the important thing is for the Australian public to know that as soon as we’ve known something, as soon as our expert advice from that ATAGI group that gives us the guidance on immunisation have given Australia a decision, we went out. It was within 15 minutes we told the nation about these matters and to follow through as we did until about midnight last night to make sure that GPs and other vaccine providers today have all that information to have those discussions with people who have concerns.

For young people, and indeed for all Australians, the benefits of the vaccine program far outweigh any risks and that continues to be the case.

We’ve made this preference for not using AstraZeneca in the under 50s on the basis of that safety concern but vaccination in general is absolutely important and I would really urge people to make sure that they are lining up when their turn comes to get the appropriate vaccine.

Updated

Morning all, Matilda Boseley, here.

Let’s not beat around the bush. We all know why you are here. Let’s talk about AstraZeneca.

At 7.15pm, the prime minister called a press conference to announce that the AstraZeneca vaccine is now not recommended for people under 50 years old, due to extraordinarily rare but potentially fatal blood clotting in younger people.

There has been an extremely small number of cases of a specific type of blood clotting called “low platelet blood clotting” in people after they receive the AstraZeneca jab. This was generally in people under 50. This led to the EU declaring blood clotting should be listed as a possible but rare side effect, and caused the UK to recommend other vaccines to be used on people under 30 when possible.

This prompted a review by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Here is chief medical officer Paul Kelly explaining the recommendations:

At the current time, the use of the Pfizer vaccine is preferred over the AstraZeneca vaccine in adults aged less than 50 years who have not already received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This is based both on the increased risk of complications from Covid-19 with increasing age, and thus increased benefit of the vaccination, and the potentially lower, but not zero risk, of this rare event with increasing age.

The second recommendation is that immunisation providers should only give the first dose of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to adults under 50 years of age where the benefit clearly outweighs the risk for that individual’s circumstances.

The third recommendation is people that have had their first dose of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca without any serious adverse events can safely be given their second dose. This includes adults under the age of 50. People who have had blood clots associated with low platelet levels after their first dose of Covid-19 AstraZeneca should not be given the second dose.

Thank gosh our rollout doesn’t rely almost entirely on the domestic production of AstraZeneca, pumping out 1m doses a week ... oh wait.

There are about 12 million people aged between 18 and 49 who will now ideally be given the Pfizer vaccine, but Australia currently only has contracts for 20m doses, enough for 10 million people, and international supply chains are already unreliable.

Basically the long and short of it is this is likely to create yet another extremely significant delay in Australia’s already limping vaccine rollout.

There is plenty of other stuff to look out for as well today, but why don’t we jump into the day for now.

Buckle in.

If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com.

Updated

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