VIRUS DISEASES – AUSTRALIA

Don’t delay jab warning to over 50s

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Natasha Robinson, Adeshola Ore
The Australian – Page: 4 : 21-May-21

Amid reports of an increase in ‘vaccine hesitancy’, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has urged people over the age of 50 to receive AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid agrees, warning that the nation will be at risk of another outbreak as winter approaches. He adds that over-50s who hold out for an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer will not be a priority when more doses become available, as they chose not to have the vaccine that was available to them. Meanwhile, 24 cases of rare blood clots have now been reported among Australians who received the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. A 53-year-old South Australian man is among the six new cases; he is said to be in a ‘very serious condition’ in intensive care.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, ASTRAZENECA PLC, PFIZER INCORPORATED

Vaccine passports risk a two-class country

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 4 : 21-May-21

Business leaders have questioned the merits of the federal government’s proposed ‘vaccine passport’ system for domestic travellers. It would allow fully vaccinated people to travel interstate and return without being subject to COVID-19 restrictions. Restaurant & Catering CEO Wes Lambert says it would be "very cumbersome" and create more red tape; he adds that it might also create two classes of Australians, based on their vaccination status. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and New South Wales counterpart Gladys Berejiklian both oppose the scheme. Meanwhile, five new COVID-19 cases have been reported in hotel quarantine nationwide in the last 24 hours.

CORPORATES
RESTAURANT AND CATERING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, QUEENSLAND. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Revolving door – Thousands cleared to jet in and out of Australia multiple times during pandemic

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Tom Minear, Miles Proust
Herald Sun – Page: 1 & 6 : 13-May-21

The Budget papers show that the federal government does not expect the majority of Australians to be able to travel overseas until at least mid-2022. However, Australian Border Force data shows that 134,758 citizens and permanent residents have received exemptions to travel overseas since the pandemic began. This includes 37,456 people who received a travel exemption on compassionate or humanitarian grounds, while 13,762 were allowed to leave Australia and return on multiple occasions. An ABF spokeswoman says the latter includes Australian Defence Force members and airline staff. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says the federal government will review the exemptions process.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BORDER FORCE, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Pfizer warns that a Covid vaccine patent waiver could harm supply and safety

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 13-May-21

Australia is continuing to resist a global push to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer has used its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into vaccine fraud to argue that rather than increasing global supply of vaccines, a waiver may in fact make it more difficult to manufacture vaccines due to increased competition for raw materials. Pfizer has also highlighted the increased risk of Australians being offered counterfeit vaccines by scammers. Meanwhile, Moderna has advised that the federal government has agreed to buy 25 million doses of its mRNA-based vaccine, including 10 million doses in 2021. It is also holding talks about manufacturing the two-dose vaccine in Australia.

CORPORATES
PFIZER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PFIZER INCORPORATED, MODERNA INCORPORATED

Loan deferral scheme a win for economy

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 28-Apr-21

More than 468,000 home loan customers in Australia were on deferred repayment plans at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; this had fallen to 3,170 by the end of March. Likewise, the number of small business borrowers who have deferred their loan repayments has fallen from 235,440 to just 508. Overall, just 0.5 per cent of all loans are still on a ‘repayment holiday’. The loan deferral scheme ended on 31 March, but Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh says the nation’s banks will continue to provide support for distressed households and businesses.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BANKING ASSOCIATION

Health officials beg for hotel quarantine to be upgraded

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Christopher Knaus, Melissa Davey
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 28-Apr-21

Public Health Association of Australia president Tarun Weeramanthri has urged the national cabinet to end the ‘political blame game’ over hotel quarantine and address deficiencies with the system. He says airborne transmission of COVID-19 in hotels with inadequate ventilation is the single biggest risk in terms of the virus spreading. Chief medical officer Paul Kelly has defended the hotel quarantine system; he has told a parliamentary inquiry that the system is ‘fit for purpose’, but concedes that improvements can be made. Some state governments are continuing to advocate housing returned travellers in purpose-built facilities in regional areas.

CORPORATES
PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH

Economy gets caffeine hit as spending soars

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 22-Apr-21

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that retail sales increased by 1.4 per cent nationwide in March, after falling by 0.8 per cent in February. Retail sales grew by 5.5 per cent in Western Australia and four per cent in Victoria, with both states having been affected by snap COVID-19 lockdowns in February. Consumer spending totalled $30.7bn overall in March, which is 10.6 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. The growth in retail sales has been driven by service-oriented businesses such as cafes and restaurants.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Experts eye Melbourne-made mRNA vaccines

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Paul Sakkal, Melissa Cunningham, Liam Mannix, Rachel Clun, Emma Koehn
The Age – Page: Online : 22-Apr-21

The Victorian government has announced that it will contribute $50m to the cost of establishing a facility to manufacture mRNA-based vaccines in Melbourne. Professor Colin Pouton of Monash University believes that this amount of funding would be sufficient to establish a facility for the local manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccines that were developed by Pfizer and Moderna. He says Australia could begin producing these vaccines within a year, adding that this could be accelerated if CSL – which is producing AstraZeneca’s adenovirus-based vaccine – becomes involved. Australia currently receives limited supplies of the Pfizer vaccine.

CORPORATES
MONASH UNIVERSITY, PFIZER INCORPORATED, MODERNA INCORPORATED, ASTRAZENECA PLC, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL

Wage freeze needed due to vaccine delays

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 22-Apr-21

The Restaurant & Catering Industry Association has urged the Fair Work Commission to take into account the delay in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines when deciding whether to increase the minimum wage. The RCIA contends that the minimum wage should either be left at its current level in 2021-22 or any increase for workers in hard-hit industries should be delayed until February 2022. ACTU secretary Sally McManus argues that a minimum wage freeze would result in a pay cut in real terms for one in five workers at a time when domestic spending is essential to Australia’s economic recovery.

CORPORATES
RESTAURANT AND CATERING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU

Australians divided over PM Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 and all related issues

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Apr-21

New research by Roy Morgan shows that 51% of Australians disapprove of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 and all related issues. A majority of younger Australians under 35 years of age, women, people in capital cities and Victoria, as well as supporters of the ALP and the Greens disapprove of Morrison’s handling of the pandemic. However, there is majority support for Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 related issues among Australians aged 65+, people in country areas, the States of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, and L-NP supporters. Australians who disapprove of Morrison’s handling of COVID-19 and related issues have consistently brought up the ‘bungled’ vaccine rollout and the perception that he is always ‘passing the blame’ to the states and others for anything that goes wrong and taking credit when it is the states that have done the greater part of the job dealing with COVID-19. For the 49% of Australians who approve of the way Morrison is handling COVID-19 and all related issues the main reason is that Australia is in a better position than just about anywhere else in the world, and this is a marker of the PM’s good handling of COVID-19.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET