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England to scrap vaccine passport plan as European winter looms
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to scrap immediate plans for vaccine passports in England as the government sets out its blueprint for managing COVID-19 during the European winter.
Speaking to broadcasters, Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Sunday that vaccine passports would not be introduced in England, nor did he foresee more lockdowns on the horizon.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce his government’s winter COVID plans on Tuesday.Credit:Bloomberg
He told the BBC the government would not make vaccine passports compulsory for people attending mass events, while PCR tests for travellers could also soon be scrapped.
“We’ve looked at it properly and whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I’m pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports,” he said.
“I’ve never liked the idea of saying to people, ‘You must show your papers’ ... to do what is just an everyday activity.”
Reuters, Bloomberg
Gladys Berejiklian to front the media at 11am
By Michaela Whitbourn
As we foreshadowed earlier this morning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has done an abrupt about-face and will appear at a press conference in Sydney at 11am this morning.
Ms Berejiklian flagged last week that daily COVID-19 press conferences would stop from today and would be replaced with online videos provided by NSW Health.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday.Credit:Edwina Pickles
She said she would appear intermittently on a “needs basis”.
“That could be seven days a week; some weeks it could be three times a week. It depends on what’s going on,” she said on Sunday.
Well, it appears today is a day for a press conference. The premier’s office has now confirmed that she will provide the COVID-19 update at 11am with NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty.
That rather takes the wind out of the sails of NSW Opposition leader Chris Minns, who had seized on the absence of the press conference today to announce his own 11am appearance.
‘You want to open up with the numbers as low as possible’: leading epidemiologist
By Ashleigh McMillan
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely says he believes NSW and Victoria can tolerate up to 2000 COVID-19 cases a day “but not comfortably”, and it is important the states do not go over that number.
He said coronavirus restrictions should be eased when the numbers were as low as possible. At present, NSW is set to lift some restrictions for fully vaccinated people in mid-October. Modelling by the Burnet Institute suggests case numbers in NSW local government areas of concern will peak in coming weeks.
Professor Blakely told ABC Radio National this morning that “I think we might need to pivot to a different way of thinking about this and actually start thinking about what is our ceiling” of infections.
Professor Tony Blakely.
“We need to start thinking about the headroom we’ve got … Any alterations or openings up that we want to do – and that’s going to be the tricky part – is going to require clarity and honesty from politicians that when they open up, we’ll have to monitor and we may need to retreat, as we start threatening that limit.
“You want to open up with the numbers as low as possible, and going down, because if you open up when the numbers say going for 1000 are still going up very fast, it’s not a good scenario to be in.”
Victoria’s current Reff rate – a measure of how many people an infected person will pass the virus on to – is at 1.7.
Professor Blakely said current mobility data is showing there is more movement in Victoria’s current lockdown than there has been previously.
“There’s fatigue, and on your hour or two of exercise each day, you only need to walk around to see the number of people hanging outside cafes chatting to their mates and jabbering in parks,” he said.
“I don’t wish to be critical, because as human beings, we crave that social connectedness. I think we are all over lockdown here in Victoria, so it’s been hard to maintain compliance of the public health orders basically.”
WA government defends COVID breach punishments after 64 people jailed
By Heather McNeill
One in every six people charged with breaching Western Australia’s border and quarantine laws has been jailed, a punishment deemed excessive on each occasion the penalty has been appealed.
Figures provided by the WA Department of Justice show that since the start of the pandemic 706 charges of failing to comply with a direction under the state’s Emergency Management Act have been laid against 384 individuals.
Dozens of people have been jailed in WA for breaching border and quarantine rules.Credit:Andrew Meares
Of those, 64 people were sentenced to an immediate prison sentence, while an unknown number of people who did not receive jail time were required to serve the remainder of their quarantine behind bars before being granted bail.
The figures indicate a far higher instance of imprisonment than has been reported publicly and demonstrate the sentencing difficulties associated with new laws.
Coronavirus vaccine bookings now open for 12 to 15 year olds
By Michaela Whitbourn
Parents and guardians can now make coronavirus vaccine bookings online for 12 to 15-year-olds.
“Access will be available for both Pfizer and Moderna from next week and the Moderna [vaccine] will be coming through the pharmacy networks,” Operation COVID Shield head Lieutenant-General John Frewen told ABC News Breakfast today.
COVID-19 Taskforce Commander, Lieutenant General John Frewen.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“People obviously need to get online and make the bookings. I do ask for a little bit of patience as we get them settled in over the next couple of weeks but people should be able to get on and get bookings within a couple of weeks.”
General Frewen also said that “from the middle of October we believe we will have enough vaccines in the country to fully vaccinate every eligible person in Australia”.
“So really we are in a period now where we are shifting from any sense of supply constraint.”
There is no vaccine approved for children aged under 12.
Victoria records 473 new cases of COVID-19
By Michaela Whitbourn and Ashleigh McMillan
Victoria’s coronavirus numbers are in.
The state recorded 473 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to midnight on Sunday, a new record during the current outbreak. It brings the total number of active cases to 3,507.
Just 202 of those cases are linked to known outbreaks, meaning the majority are mystery cases.
Australia ‘can’t wait’ for vaccination laggards, Deputy PM says
By Ashleigh McMillan
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister says the nation “can’t wait” for those who won’t get vaccinated, but targeted lockdowns to deal with outbreaks after we hit COVID-19 jab targets are still on the cards.
Barnaby Joyce said on Monday the federal government’s vaccine rollout “job is going well, but it is not finished”.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, right, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But he said that even when more than 80 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated, there will still be a need for targeted lockdowns or other restrictions for significant clusters.
“In the Doherty (Institute) plan, there is still the capacity ... that there will be targeted initiatives for explicit areas, if and when required,” he told ABC Radio National.
“There will be times where you have to focus quite clearly on a certain small area.”
Around 42.3 per cent of Australians have received both doses of a coronavirus vaccine, with 67.5 per cent having received one COVID-19 jab.
Mr Joyce said that by the end of October - with one million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine set to arrive in the coming weeks - there would be “more vaccine than there are people wanting to get vaccinated”.
“If you choose not to [get vaccinated], well, that is your choice, but the nation can’t wait for you,” he said.
“We also want to make sure that people get the liberties and the freedoms that they were born with back, and that’s the thing that more and more people want. They’re over it.
“Unfortunately, when things open up, then some people will get sick, and very tragically, some people will die. But some people die from the flu.
“We don’t want that, we want to avoid that, but we can’t stop the nation for it.”
Deputy Premier says NSW won’t restrict unvaccinated when state hits 80 per cent coverage
By Daniella White
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says unvaccinated people will only be locked out of businesses for a matter of weeks when the state begins to ease COVID-19 restrictions in October.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced a plan last week for easing restrictions once 70 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated.
However, she has stressed those freedoms, including dining in at pubs and other eateries, will only be available to people have received both doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
NSW Deputy Premier John BarilaroCredit:James Brickwood
Mr Barilaro told Sydney radio station 2GB this morning that “there will be businesses that don’t like the idea ... [of mandatory vaccines] but the 70 per cent road map gives us an opportunity to open up the economy and lift restrictions.
“If they don’t want to do it that’s fine; you might have to wait another three to four weeks after that when we get to 80 per cent and above.
“I apologise for that but it will only be a three to four weeks of short inconvenience.
“According to the national road map and to the Doherty Institute report, we’ll go and then lift further restrictions including for the unvaccinated.”
Speaking on Canberra radio station 2CC, the deputy premier said that while the plan for the state when it hits 80 per cent coverage of people 16 and older had not yet been released, there would be very few restrictions for everyone when the target is reached.
“We are turning unvaccinated customers [away] for a period of probably three weeks,” he said.
“For about a three week period [after the state hits 70 per cent coverage], we’re giving businesses an opportunity to open [for vaccinated customers].”
Under the national plan agreed by national cabinet, vaccinated people will be exempt from all domestic restrictions when 80 per cent coverage is reached.
Mr Barilaro was also asked why it was not mandatory for NSW state politicians to get vaccinated, despite similar mandates being introduced to health care workers and police officers.
“I have no problem mandating politicians to go back into parliament to be vaccinated,” he said on 2GB.
‘Exit, stage left’: Federal Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon to quit politics
By Michaela Whitbourn and Rob Harris
Veteran federal Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon has confirmed he is quitting politics and will not contest the next election.
The outspoken MP stepped down from the shadow cabinet in November last year but had vowed to recontest his NSW seat of Hunter.
He said on Monday he felt he could “exit, stage left” without letting anybody down, and that Opposition leader Anthony Albanese was “well-placed” to lead Labor to electoral victory next year.
Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon is quitting politics.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“Despite some public tensions Anthony Albanese and I have worked very closely together for the last two and a half years,” he told ABC Radio National.
“I’ve urged him to focus on the things that are really important to working people. He’s been to a coal mine; he’s expressed support for the coal mining industry and the gas sector, just to name a couple. I think he has struck a really good balance.”
He said Mr Albanese had taken a “sensible, more moderate approach” to climate change.
Mr Fitzgibbon told caucus colleagues last year he would sit on the backbench and warned he would speak up for the ALP’s blue-collar base, which he said had been alienated over the past decade.
The former resources and agriculture spokesman had privately raised with his colleagues his fear the ALP was in permanent opposition.
He had clashed publicly with several colleagues in the past two years over climate and energy policy, arguing that “delusional” environmental “zealots” were making the party unelectable.
Expert behind WA COVID-19 modelling says Doherty Institute data may be ‘too optimistic’
As we’ve reported previously, modelling by the Doherty Institute underpins the national plan for reopening the country. It sets out targets of 70 to 80 per cent of the population aged 16 and over as the trigger for easing coronavirus restrictions.
Liam Mannix reports today that modelling by University of Western Australia Professor George Milne, given to the WA Department of Health a fortnight ago, paints a far more pessimistic picture about what will happen when Australia reopens compared with the Doherty Institute modelling.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan.Credit:Trevor Collens
The WA model forecasts 13,390 cases, 1373 hospitalisations and 186 deaths in the six months after that state reopens; big numbers for a state that has recorded just 1088 cases and nine deaths over the entire pandemic.
“It tells you we’re going to have lots of people becoming ill, frankly,” said Professor Milne, a pioneer of agent-based modelling now based at the University of WA. “Our modelling results suggest we need to be about 85 per cent vaccination coverage.”
On Thursday, after weeks of posturing, WA Premier Mark McGowan finally announced his state’s border was likely to remain closed until at least February next year. The state will seek to get well above the 80 per cent vaccination mark set for moving into phase C of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s national reopening plan, and wouldn’t be opening up until then.
“I suspect that comes from our documents we produced for them,” Professor George Milne told The Age and the Herald.
“I think the Doherty data is perhaps too optimistic. It does not correlate with what we’re finding.”
The Doherty Institute said in a statement last month:
In the COVID-19 modelling, opening up at 70 per cent vaccine coverage of the adult population with partial public health measures, we predict 385,983 symptomatic cases and 1,457 deaths over six months. With optimal public health measures (and no lockdowns), this can be significantly reduced to 2,737 infections and 13 deaths.
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2021-09-12 23:42:50Z
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