The inside story of the texts and phone conversations between Kevin Rudd, Scott Morrison AND the boss of Pfizer before Australia s vaccine rollout was FINALLY sped up - and why the pharma giant s boss agreed to take ex-PM s call
Australia brought forward doses of Pfizer vaccine in deal announced on July 8
It came after weeks of negotiations between government and Pfizer Australia
Ex PM Kevin Rudd has revealed he had talks with global Pfizer boss on June 30
Government says that extraordinary meeting made no difference to outcome
Speaker Tony Smith to quit parliament
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View from The Hill: Speaker Tony Smith, proponent of order in the House to retire at election
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Epidemiologists have demanded a national approach to contain the highly transmissible Delta variant as they warn more infectious types of COVID-19 emerging overseas will continue to “punch holes in every deficiency” of the country’s pandemic response.
As infectious disease experts around Australia implored NSW to immediately enforce stage-four restrictions to contain a rapidly growing outbreak of the Delta variant, epidemiologists said our reliance on states responding to outbreaks independently was putting the entire country at risk.
Melburnians wearing masks around South Melbourne Market in June.
Credit:Wayne Taylor
The head of the epidemiological modelling unit at Monash University, James Trauer, said the emergence of the Delta variant in Australia and the worrying situation unfolding in NSW, where 112 new cases were reported on Monday, showed “just how enormous the holes are in our national approach”.
Health Minister Greg Hunt (Image: AAP/Tracey Nearmy)
The Hunt for Rudd We struggle to pick a favourite part of the drama emanating from former PM Kevin Rudd s intervention in the desperate state of the COVID vaccine rollout. There was an extremely not-mad Health Minister Greg Hunt having a little chuckle at the story, refusing several times to use Rudd s name (calling him the individual ) as though he feared he would summon him like Beetlejuice or something. We also got Defence Minister Peter Dutton sharing Pfizer s rebuttal of allegations that no one had made, winning him an argument no one was having, and Malcolm Turnbull giving out likes to anti-Morrison tweets like lollies: