Vaccine rollout in ‘deep trouble’

Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler says the vaccine rollout is in "deep trouble" as an emergency National Cabinet meeting is set to meet tomorrow. An emergency National Cabinet meeting was convened for Monday following the alteration of medical advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine. It comes after a review by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has seen the recommended age for receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine raised from 50 to 60. The cohort of Australians aged 50-59 are most affected by the new advice, given they are now recommended to receive the Pfizer vaccine instead. A number of those Australians had already been administered their first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine when the health advice changed, but experts have encouraged them to receive their second dose despite the updated recommendations. The government has been forecasting the vaccine rollout will slow down as a result of the updates, but has remained confident it can inoculate all Australians who want to be inoculated by the end of the year. Mr Butler told Sky News Labor has been arguing for a year that there was not "enough deals" for a vaccine being negotiated by the federal government. "There are very credible reports that Pfizer approached the government as early as June last year for Australia to be one of the first country's to get access to their vaccine," he said. "Those talks broke down, from their perspective, pretty hardline demands from the Australian government about what it would take to get a deal. "We didn't get a deal until November which meant we were very late getting Pfizer." Mr Butler also said the Morrison Government was very "dismissive" of Labor's calls for "months and months" to do a deal with Moderna. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au