Most vaccine experts have backed the TGA's approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but say regulators need to keep a close eye on overseas rollouts and new trial data streaming in across the world
“So, this shows once again a government that follows, doesn’t lead,” he told reporters in Sydney.
The federal government has signed contracts with logistics companies DHL and Linfox to deliver vaccines from March. Accenture will track vaccines and PwC has been contracted to administer the rollout.
In December Albanese set off the vaccine debate by arguing it made “no sense” to delay the rollout after approval was granted.
On 4 January Prof Raina MacIntyre warned in a YouTube video presentation that delaying vaccinations until March “may be costly and may lose us the opportunity for herd immunity [before] mutant strains become more dominant”.
Biology by the numbers
Before 2020, the phrase “mathematical modelling” may have made your eyes glaze over. But as COVID-19 escalated across the globe, we’ve watched mathematics combine with epidemiology to make predictions, guide government decisions, and inform the public about the state of the pandemic.
In vitro tumour spheroid. (a) shows the red and green fluorescing cells relatively evenly distributed throughout the spheroid. (b) shows a mixture of red and green fluorescing cells at the surface of the spheroid, whereas in the centre of the spheroid we see predominantly red fluorescing cells. (c) shows the inner-most region is largely free of fluorescing cells; the intermediate region contains mostly red fluorescing cells; and the outermost region contains a mixture of red and green fluorescing cells. Credit: bioRxiv; Nikolas Haass (University of Queensland)
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Christmas Day and New Year s Eve have the potential to be disastrous and calamitous super-spreading events, according to epidemiologists who say the current lockdown on Sydney s Northern Beaches may not be enough to contain the outbreak.
The cluster grew to at least 83 cases on Monday, after 15 new positive tests were returned overnight.
All of the new cases were linked to the Avalon cluster.
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Northern Beaches residents are under strict stay-at-home orders until midnight on Wednesday. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said it s possible the current restrictions could be extended beyond that date, with a final decision to be made on Wednesday.