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This morning’s press conferences
At 10.30am this morning, Victoria’s Health Minister Martin Foley and testing commander Jereon Weimar will be holding the state’s daily coronavirus update at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, one of the state’s vaccine hubs.
At 10.45am, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith will visit the COVID-19 surge centre to announce the first COVID-19 vaccination in the ACT.
We will put live videos of both of these press conferences in the blog closer to the time.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian gave a press conference earlier this morning (see 7.58am post)
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US coronavirus death toll approaches half a million
By John Raby
The US stands at the brink of a once-unthinkable tally: 500,000 people lost to the coronavirus.
A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 — roughly the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and just shy of the size of Atlanta. The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University on Sunday, local time, surpasses the number of people who died in 2019 of chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s, flu and pneumonia combined.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has praised Vermont’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Credit:AP
“It’s nothing like we have ever been through in the last 102 years, since the 1918 influenza pandemic,” the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, said on CNN’s State of the Union. About 675,000 Americans died of the 1918 influenza pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
AP
NSW frontline excited for ‘extra layer’ of protection
Frontline workers who received some of NSW’s first doses of the coronavirus vaccine have expressed excitement about the rollout, although they know the pandemic is far from over.
Hotel quarantine nurse Brad McEntee said the vaccine was “an extra layer” of protection between his work and the community.
“We will continue to have extremely strict measures in place; we’re still a long way off the end, I think, but this is a step in the right direction,” he said.
Emergency/medical workers register to have the vaccine shot at RPA Hospital in Sydney.Credit:Peter Rae
Sarah Nilsson, who works as a nurse manager processing arrivals at Sydney Airport, said there were times during the past year when she had drastically limited her movements due to the nature of her work, such as when she worked at the domestic airport during Victoria’s second wave.
“When they were getting 800 cases a day I certainly limited what I was doing: I didn’t go to the shops, I just went to work and went home.“
Asked if she had a message for those who might be hesitant to receive the vaccine, Ms Nilsson said: “It’s worthwhile doing for yourself, for your community and for your family.”
SA Premier Steven Marshall receives first vaccine dose
The vaccine rollout has started in South Australia, and Premier Steven Marshall was among the first to receive a shot of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.
How flying nurse squads are delivering the vaccine to aged care residents
By Rachel Clun
Flying squads of nurses are travelling around the country to start immunising elderly aged care residents and people living in disability care, as healthcare workers, quarantine and border staff begin rolling up their sleeves in hospital hubs.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said so far, things were going to plan.
“It is wonderful to see the reports of those first quarantine workers, Border Force workers and front-line health care workers lining up to get their immunisations at the hubs right across the country,” he said on ABC News Breakfast this morning.
Professor Kidd said the beginning of a national vaccine program was a very important day.
“Today is a real milestone in our collective response to tackle COVID-19 and bring things as rapidly under control as we can.”
Plea for ‘hesitant’ Australians to get jabbed after tennis crowd booing
By Megan Gorrey
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd has reassured Australians who are hesitant to get jabbed that the vaccines have gone through a “rigorous and thorough” process to ensure they are safe and effective.
Professor Kidd urged those people to get vaccinated when asked if he was concerned about booing from the crowd at the Australian Open after mentions of the coronavirus vaccine rollout and the Victorian government on Sunday.
“What we know from the research that has been carried out is that 80 per cent of Australians are very determined to get this vaccine,” Professor Kidd told ABC News Breakfast.
“They understand that vaccines save lives and how important this is to getting COVID-19 under control in Australia.
“Yes, there are still some people who are hesitant about the vaccine, to those people I say Therapeutic Goods Administration has gone through its usual rigorous and thorough processes to ensure the safety and the efficacy of these vaccines which are being approved for use in Australia.
“Please, when it comes to be your turn, please line up along with the rest of us and get your vaccine.“
Earlier, Medical Journal of Australia editor Nick Talley said he didn’t think it made a difference whether people received the Pfizer vaccine, which is being rolled out first, or the AstraZeneca jab.
“The bottom line is both vaccines are safe, both protect against severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths, that’s what really matters,” Professor Talley told 2GB radio.
Vaccine signals that Australia is ‘on the offensive’ against the virus: Monash emergency medicine head
By Rachel Clun and Craig Butt
The second person to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Victoria, Monash Medical Centre emergency medicine director Rachel Rosler, said the rollout signals Australia taking the fight to the virus.
“We’re now on the offensive,” she said. “We’re no longer acting defensively against this, we’re now on the offensive and it’s an amazing day.”
Dr Rosler said she was relieved to have received the vaccine.
“I think in a couple of weeks, it’s really going to kick in,” she said. “I think I’m a little bit more emotional than I thought that I would be.”
Dr Rosler received the vaccine dose at Melbourne’s Monash Medical Centre earlier this morning. You can watch a video of the first doses administered in Victoria here:
Berejiklian says seeing frontline workers getting vaccinated gave her ‘a lot of joy today’
By Kate Aubusson
Seeing the relief among frontline workers as they received their injection was the happiest moment of the morning for New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
“If you put your hand up to say going to work in hotel quarantine you’re a pretty special person to be able to say that you’re putting your own safety on the line to help others,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The relief of the knowledge that … their exposure is reduced, and the likelihood of them passing it on to anybody else is reduced and that enormous relief gave me a lot of joy today. That was probably my biggest feeling when I saw them get the jab,” she said.
Emergency/medical workers register to have the vaccine shot at RPA Hospital in Sydney.Credit:Peter Rae
Asked if the NSW government vaccine rollout could pivot to vaccinate a group of the community affected by a sudden outbreak, Ms Berejiklian said “of course”.
“Had the vaccine rollout occurred during a time where we had community transmission and that community transmission occurred of course our strategy would be different,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Vaccine will make 2021 a ‘year of transition’: NSW Chief Health Officer
By Kate Aubusson
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said 2021 would be “a year of transition”, and as the population progressively becomes vaccinated health authorities can calibrate their public health response.
“We will have a number of restrictions and border measures probably in place for a little bit of time, but this will be a learning as we see the impact of the virus transmission around the world, and as we calibrate how quickly and rapidly we can vaccinate our population,” she said.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant.Credit:James Alcock
Dr Chant urged the community to trust Australia’s regulatory body - the Therapeutic Goods Administration - that approved the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines for use.
She assured the public there was no rush to get the vaccine but flagged the possibility that the rollout might be faster than expected.
“The timeframes for that roadmap have been laid out, but they may be brought forward. But the key messages, when it is your time, please roll up your sleeves and get vaccinated,” Dr Chant said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also suggested the timeframe that the general public can expect to receive the vaccine may be accelerated.
“The volumes of the vaccine that are arriving are exceeding our expectations,” she said. “If we get some good positive news that those supplies have arrived in ample time, we will look at bringing our timetable for the New South Wales.”
NSW Health Minister hails ‘incredible’ vaccine rollout
By Kate Aubusson
NSW Health minister Brad Hazzard said it had been 13 months since NSW had it first detected COVID-19 case.
“There have been some very dark and worrying days since that time,” he said.
“What we’re seeing today is buzz and excitement from the people who have been there in those darkest days on the front line working hard, suddenly now seeing the light,” Mr Hazzard said.
RPA Hospital started vaccinating people against COVID-19 on Monday morning. Credit:Peter Rae
“As I looked at that first jab going in, it struck me that it’s a very small and a very quick jab, but it’s [a way] for all of us back to normalcy,” he said.
“There were days in the last 13 months when we thought we’d never have a vaccine,” Mr Hazzard said. “We genuinely thought it may never come. To see the vaccines now coming through our doors here in Australia is just incredible.”
Vaccination rollout a game-changer for New South Wales: Berejiklian
By Kate Aubusson
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was a game-changer day for the state as the vaccination rollout officially kicked off at 8am this morning.
More than 1,200 people will be vaccinated in NSW today, including 500 at Royal Prince Alfred and the rest at Liverpool and Westmead Hospitals.
“I want to thank the teams in all those three hospitals for working so hard to make it possible today to have that mass production,” Ms Berejiklian said.
NSW Premier Gladys BerejiklianCredit:Kate Geraghty
“We are really, really positive about making sure in New South Wales that we protect our quarantine workers first and foremost, and in so doing, reduce the likelihood of them getting it or passing it on to their to their loved ones,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“Although we do know that we still all have to be careful, because when you have the vaccine, it reduces the likelihood of you getting it in a serious way but you can still get it, and you can still transmit it,” she said.
Ms Berejiklian stresses the vaccine was effective and encouraged everyone to get the injection as soon as they were able.
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2021-02-21 23:21:47Z
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