Premiers question AstraZeneca vaccine backflip and demand Morrison government lower international arrivals cap
AstraZeneca #AstraZeneca
Premiers have demanded the Morrison government slow the pace of arrivals from overseas, and have queried a decision to allow people under 40 to have AstraZeneca jabs, as the emergence of the highly infectious Delta variant triggered lockdowns in Sydney, parts of Queensland, Perth and the Northern Territory.
After flagging a review of Australia’s stretched hotel quarantine system during Monday night’s national cabinet meeting, Daniel Andrews and Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday publicly urged the Morrison government to lower the cap on international arrivals for the next three months.
The premiers said restrictions on arrivals would likely prevent further lockdowns while the national Covid vaccination rollout gathers pace.
Related: Australia’s top medical body refuses to endorse PM’s announcement that under-40s can get AstraZeneca
Palaszczuk and the Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, also queried the signal from Scott Morrison on Monday night after an emergency national cabinet meeting that people under 40 could now have access to AstraZeneca jabs through GPs indemnified by the commonwealth.
The Queensland premier – who raised concerns about giving AstraZeneca to people under 60 during a national cabinet discussion in April – told reporters on Tuesday governments should follow advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi).
Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, said “the clinical advice from Atagi is that people under the age of 60 should preferentially get Pfizer”.
Foley said on Tuesday opening eligibility for AstraZeneca jabs to people under 40 “was not a decision of national cabinet”.
“If it means more people can get access to more vaccines that’s a good thing but what we need to do is just clarify precisely what it is that the prime minister has announced and make sure that we put it into operation as quickly and as seamlessly as we can both in our GP clinics and our state vaccination clinics,” Foley said.
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, told reporters Monday night’s shift was not a national cabinet decision, it was a decision of the Morrison government. “The commonwealth makes these decisions, and we were advised [on Monday night],” McGowan said.
With the number of Covid infections continuing to rise in several states, the Queensland government on Tuesday imposed a snap lockdown covering south-east Queensland, Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island.
Video: Prioritising AstraZeneca vaccine has ‘jeopardised vaccine rollout’ (Sky News Australia)
Prioritising AstraZeneca vaccine has ‘jeopardised vaccine rollout’
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Sydney remains locked down after recording 19 new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday night. Darwin and the surrounding areas have been put into lockdown until 1pm on Friday, with concerns Covid could enter remote Indigenous communities where vaccination rates are low. In Western Australia, the Perth and Peel regions are also in lockdown.
With Australia now battling a significant third wave of the pandemic, state premiers are increasingly inclined to air their frustrations about the slow pace of the national vaccination rollout publicly.
The New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian, who has made it very clear the states are not in control of the rollout, said on Tuesday “until at least 80% of our adult population is vaccinated, we can’t have a conversation about what Covid normal looks like”.
Palaszczuk said: “We have a large proportion of our state unvaccinated. The federal government is in charge of supply of that vaccination and we know that it’s all coming in the last quarter [of 2021].
“Until that time, there is a real risk, and until that time that the large proportion of the Queensland public are vaccinated, we should massively reduce the number of returning Australians,” she said.
After months of arguing states should not rush to close their borders to manage Covid outbreaks, the Morrison government recently imposed a controversial travel ban on people returning from Covid-ravaged India, using biosecurity regulations to criminalise the return to Australia.
Related: NSW Covid update: 19 new cases as state unveils support for businesses hit by lockdown
Responding to calls from the two premiers to slow the pace of international arrivals to prevent further lockdowns while Australians were vaccinated, the federal health minister Greg Hunt told reporters “we have arguably the strongest, or one of the strongest systems in the world”.
Hunt said Australia had an obligation to “bring people home, as so many want to do, and rightly so”. As well as ensuring Australians weren’t locked out of the country during the international border closure, the government also had to “make sure that we have the critical medical or engineering or other workers that are uniquely qualified for some circumstances”.
Asked about the public pushback from Queensland about broadening eligibility of the AstraZeneca jabs to people under 40, Hunt told reporters there was no change to the Atagi advice. “We’ve set out the medical advice, but we recognise that there are individuals who are seeking, through the informed consent process, to have … access [to AstraZeneca vaccinations].
“There is no change to the medical advice,” Hunt said.
Hunt was asked on Tuesday why the Morrison government – which regularly emphasises the importance of following expert health advice – was now suggesting Australians could explore alternatives to the Atagi recommendation. The health minister was also asked whether Monday night’s shift reflected a shortage of Pfizer doses.
Hunt said: “The medical advice has not changed.
“There’s simply a recognition that the access for those who wish to make an informed consent decision can be broadened, consistent with the supply,” he said.