From our hard-working friends at AAP:
Defence minister Peter Dutton insists the quarantine system will be able to cope when the travel ban lifts and flights from India resume.
The first plane load of Australians from India will land on Saturday morning after flights were suspended for several weeks to allow the Howard Springs quarantine facility in Darwin to deal with positive Covid-19 cases before more potentially infectious people arrived.
Dutton said the commonwealth had been working closely with the Northern Territory government since the India travel ban was imposed.
“We will continue to work particularly with vulnerable groups to help them back into our country as quickly as possible,” he told Nine on Friday.
“We have put in other measures around pre-flight testing and making sure if we’re bringing people out of a zone like India at the moment we can do it safely so we don’t undo what is a magnificent story here in Australia.”
Complicating that story is mixed messages about the timetable for the vaccine rollout.
Dutton insists everyone willing to be vaccinated will receive two shots by the end of this year.
“Now some people will make a decision that they don’t want the vaccine, and the government is not going to force them to have the vaccine, so let’s be realistic in terms of some parts of society,” he said.
This end of year deadline puts Dutton directly at odds with the prime minister, who has spent the week walking back an end date for the rollout’s completion.
The treasurer and health minister have also clashed on the rollout timeline.
Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles leapt on the mixed messaging.
“You’ve got complete confusion, even with Peter today, as to whether or not there’s going to be two jabs by the end of the year,” Marles said.
“They can’t give you a straight answer in relation to that question and we all know properly vaccinating the country is how we actually more forward and past this in an economic sense.”
The government has ordered 25m doses of Moderna vaccines, giving its rollout a shot in the arm.
Marles said the vaccine deal should have been secured last year.
“The reason why we are now back on the queue is because the work they’re doing now they didn’t do last year when it mattered,” he said.
“This time last year we knew vaccines were in the pipeline. It was then the government should have been actually spreading the country’s risk.
“Instead they bet the house on the idea AstraZeneca being manufactured in Australia would be able to do the whole job.”
The first 10m doses of Moderna are due to arrive this year while the rest – booster jabs for different variants – are slated to be delivered next year.
The Moderna jab has not yet been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration but the company is expected to apply for that soon.
People under 50 are set to receive the Moderna vaccine.
CSL is already making the AstraZeneca vaccine in Melbourne; the Pfizer vaccine is fully imported.
A clear flow of supply will be needed as GPs begin the rollout to all Australians aged over 50 next week.
