Premium Content Against the advice of health experts and the government, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has called for Australia to suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The backbencher has claimed it is time to follow some European countries, who have temporarily paused use of the AstraZeneca jab pending an investigation into a small number of blood clot cases among people vaccinated. Germany, Italy and France have all announced they would be pausing their rollout of the vaccine pending an assessment from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). We should heed these concerns that European countries have a longer experience with the rollout of this (vaccine), he said.
Victoria has recorded its 18th consecutive day of no new local coronavirus cases, but health authorities have ramped up efforts to track down returned travellers from interstate hotspots.