Month: January 2021

General practices will play a key role in the Australian Government’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, in what will be one of the greatest logistical exercises, public health or otherwise, in Australian history.
Providing access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for everyone in Australia is a key priority for our Government.
General practices will help deliver the vaccine initially to priority groups, starting with people over 70, adults with underlying medical conditions and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in phase 1b. Three more phases will follow until the whole country has been offered the vaccine.
The Government will also work closely with Primary Health Networks to determine general practice distribution points for the vaccine. Over time, there will be more than 1,000 distribution points across Australia.
Applications open 9am tomorrow, at www.health.gov.au.
Australian GPs have considerable experience administering vaccines, with the Australian Government’s highly successful childhood immunisation program and the influenza vaccines both exceeding expectations with record engagement. General practices are key players in Australia having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
General practices are the core of our health system and those involved in supporting the vaccine rollout will include GPs and primary health care nurses, as well as their support staff, including practice managers, receptionists, cleaners, and IT support.
The vaccine rollout in Commonwealth-funded GP-led Respiratory Clinics and Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Services will be administered through separate processes. They are not required to complete an expression of interest to take part in the rollout.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is a new frontier. It will bring new challenges, and I am very confident that our health care workforce is well placed for this immense task.
An expression of interest for pharmacies will be released next week.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has marked a key milestone, celebrating its 40^th anniversary this week.
Minister for Sport, Richard Colbeck said the AIS remains a lynchpin in Australia’s sporting success and its enhanced focus on athlete wellbeing, athlete pathways, coach development, innovation and collaboration all remain legacies of the AIS today.
“The AIS revolutionised Australian sport 40 years ago and today it remains an important and iconic symbol of Australia’s commitment to sport and the power of sport to inspire and unite our communities,” Minister Colbeck said.
“We celebrate this milestone with the AIS and pay tribute to those who have positively contributed to building Australian sport capability over many years.”
Some of the biggest names in Australian sport are among the 8,858 athletes who have been AIS scholarship holders over its successful history.
“In an Olympic and Paralympic year, we also acknowledge the integral role the AIS is playing to support our athletes in their preparation for the Tokyo Olympics,” Minister Colbeck said.
The AIS was launched by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser in Canberra on 26 January 1981, comprising approximately 150 scholarship athletes across eight different sports to become Australia’s first and only official sporting institute.
AIS CEO Peter Conde said it has evolved to help lead the National Institute Network to positively influence more Australian athletes than ever before.
“As we should expect, the AIS does things differently now. Races aren’t won by standing still. But the intent of the AIS remains the same – to help Australian athletes realise their full potential in both sport and life.
“The AIS directly invests more than $145 million a year into 38 high performance sporting organisations and their athletes, including $14 million a year in athlete grants across Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports.
We have progressed the support for Paralympics athletes, with funding up 40 per cent in the past eight years,” he said.
“We are partnering with sports to develop emerging athletes and coaching pathways. We are at the forefront of innovation, including research into athlete health and performance. We are exploring new frontiers like artificial intelligence and data analysis.
“We naturally strive to win and we care about athletes. Our approach to athlete mental health, wellbeing and community engagement has been crucial, especially in terms of supporting athletes through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Minister Colbeck said the next decade is exciting for Australian sport.
“There is a lot to look forward to. Australia will host the women’s world cup of basketball and football, we’ve invested in a bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup and, in the next two years, we are considering a bid for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The leadership of the AIS will continue to be pivotal.”

On 24 January 2021, the New Zealand Government announced a case of COVID-19 detected in the community. This morning, New Zealand authorities advised that the case detected is a variant of concern. The case and subsequent exposure to the community are still under investigation.
As a result, the Australian Government, based on advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), has suspended green zone travel arrangements with New Zealand for a minimum of 72 hours whilst more is learnt about the transmission. This change comes into effect immediately (as of 1400 AEDT, 25 January 2021).
The decision has been taken out of an abundance of caution to reduce the risk of this variant, which has been shown to spread more readily between individuals, entering the Australian community.
All green safe travel zone passengers from New Zealand currently en route to Australia, or with planned travel to Australia in the next 72 hours will be required to enter mandatory hotel quarantine for up to 14 days on arrival or take other action based on the requirements of the relevant State and Territory Governments.
It is recommended all passengers from New Zealand with a green safe travel zone flight scheduled in the next 72 hours, reconsider their need to travel.
The Federal Government has advised all State and Territory governments and the New Zealand Government of these changes.
Anyone who has arrived into Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 is asked to isolate and arrange to get tested, and to remain in isolation until you have received a negative test.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has today provisionally approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia.
The Pfizer vaccine has met strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy.
The TGA provisional approval is for individuals 16 years of age and older. Two doses will be required – at least 21 days apart.
A priority group of Australians are expected to now receive their first dose of the vaccine as soon as it can be received from Pfizer and the necessary checks are undertaken by the TGA, prior to its distribution.
The latest advice given to the Government from Pfizer is that shipping and the first vaccinations are expected to be in late February.
If there are delays in shipping or production, the possibility remains that commencement could be in early March, however guidance remains for late February.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the TGA approval was an important step in the fight against COVID-19.
“I welcome the TGA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine, with our own Australian experts finding it is safe, effective and of a high standard,” the Prime Minister said.
“Australians should take confidence in the thorough and careful approach taken by our world-class safety regulator.
“Our priority has always been to keep Australians safe and protect lives and livelihoods. Today’s approval is another big step forward for our community, particularly in the protection of our most vulnerable people.”
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the-world class regulators at the TGA have been working tirelessly to introduce a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in Australia.
“The TGA’s processes are I believe the best in the world and we have ensured that they are thorough.” Minister Hunt said.
“The TGA has placed safety above all else.”
“Australia’s high bar has been met; the vaccine has been approved as effective in stopping severe disease. I thank all those involved in the development and assessment of this COVID-19 vaccine, including the researchers, Pfizer, BioNTech and the medical experts at the TGA who have worked around the clock and over Christmas.”
“This approval and the upcoming roll out of the vaccine will play an important part in our ability to manage the pandemic in 2021.”
“Australia’s vaccination program has been based on the medical advice from the medical expert panel led by Professor Brendan Murphy. As a result we are in the fortunate position of having secured 140 million doses of vaccine, one of the highest per capita rates in the world. We will continue to review the medical advice and monitor and adapt to developments around the world,” Minister Hunt said.
The Government continues to work with Pfizer on the final date of delivery of vaccines, noting that Pfizer has experienced some temporary production delays from its European manufacturing plant as it ramps up production to meet extraordinary global demand.
The Government’s latest advice remains that the first doses of Pfizer are expected to arrive and be rolled out in late February. Final dates will be confirmed by Pfizer shortly and are subject to shipping and distribution.
In Australia the vaccine will be rolled out in five phases over the coming months and, over time, will involve more than 1,000 vaccination administration sites.
Head of the TGA, Adjunct Professor John Skerritt said the TGA has been working non-stop to get the Pfizer vaccine assessed, while maintaining the most rigorous standards of safety, quality and efficacy.
“I would like to thank our clinical and medical officers, scientists, pharmacists and experts in statistics, laboratory analysis and manufacturing assessment who have worked tirelessly on assessing this vaccine,” Adjunct Professor Skerritt said.
“We’re thrilled to have this product pass the rigorous regulatory process and receive provisional approval.”
“Our job is by no means done. In fact the monitoring of vaccine safety post-approval is an important part of the regulatory review of vaccines.
“We now check the individual batches of vaccines that are destined for Australians while closely monitoring the safety and efficacy of the vaccine as it is rolled out.
“We will also continue our work on the regulatory review for potential approval of other vaccines, notably the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines, as well as vaccines delivered through the COVAX facility.”
As the rollout begins across 30 – 50 hospital sites, people who need protection the most will get the vaccine first. This includes aged care and disability care residents and workers, frontline health care workers, and quarantine and border workers.
The priority groups have been determined based on the advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) which oversees Australia’s highly successful immunisation program.
“There is intense ongoing work which will continue over the coming month, including batch testing of newly arrived doses, establishing cold storage facilities for the vaccine, training health providers to administer it, finalising distribution sites with states and territories, checking sites and protective equipment for safety, and scaling up systems for ongoing safety monitoring,” Minister Hunt said.
The Australia Government, states and territories, regulators and the health and medical sectors are working together to finalise arrangements under the Australian Vaccination Strategy and detailed roll out plans. Further information about the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine National Roll-out Strategy can be found here.