Germany delivers stark warning to vaccine companies; South Australia reopens its border to Sydney travellers; New South Wales warns virus could re-emerge
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Australia’s health minister says the European Union’s dramatic decision to impose export controls on vaccine manufacturers is “not expected to affect Australia”.
The EU has imposed sweeping powers that would allow it to block Covid-19 vaccine shipments from the bloc and Australia was left off a list of 120 nations exempt from the measures.
Our advice is that our vaccine supply and guidance remains on track, those dates that we provided earlier in the week followed discussions with country heads of Pfizer and AstraZeneca and took into account supply and regulatory conditions within Europe and had been reaffirmed in the last 24 hours. The guidance from the EU is provisional and preliminary at this stage, so I will remain cautious, but that guidance is that the EU regulatory steps are not aimed at Australia, and not expected to affect Australia.
The Australian government says thousands of local pharmacies will be enlisted to distribute Covid-19 vaccines across the country.
Greg Hunt, the health minister, told a press conference on Sunday that community pharmacies would administer the vaccine for free from phase two of the Australian roll out. That begins in May, when the jab will become available forthose over 50 and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Hunt said:
They are experienced, they are trained in dispensing medicines, and they would be participating from Phase 2A onwards, and that means more points of presence for Australians in terms of where they can receive their Covid-19 vaccine.
