MICHAEL KIDD:
Good afternoon. Today the world has passed 100 million reported cases of COVID-19. This is a very grim milestone in the pandemic. Globally over 2,150,000 people are reported to have lost their lives to COVID-19 over the past year. In Australia though the news is good. We have now had 10 days of no community transmission. The last long stretch of no cases of community transmission was 12 days from 3 December to the 14th last year. The total number of cases seen in Australia is now at 28,786. Over the last 10 days, 100 per cent of the new cases of COVID-19 in Australia have been in overseas arrivals and all these people have been either in hotel quarantine or at the Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory.
We've also this week had the very exciting news about the approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Plans are under way to commence the rollout of the vaccination of Australians. This will be the largest mass immunisation program our country has ever seen. But while the vaccination program rolls out it is still essential that we all adhere to the public health measures that we have been adhering to over the past year in order to keep ourselves, our families and the people of our country safe.
As you know, last Sunday we were advised about a new case of COVID-19 in New Zealand in a person who had been in hotel quarantine in the Pullman Hotel in Auckland. This person had completed 14 days of hotel quarantine on 13 January and developed symptoms after leaving hotel quarantine a few days later. This person was tested last Friday, returned a positive COVID-19 result over the weekend and during the time this person had been out in the community they’d visited many locations in New Zealand. On Monday, following rapid gene sequencing the authorities in New Zealand advised us that this person was infected with one of the COVID-19 variants of concern. The B-1351 variant which was first detected in South Africa in October last year. This new variant is more transmissible and so presents a heightened level of risk. It has been reported in at least 13 countries and we've had 13 people with this variant arrive in Australia and go into hotel quarantine. Following advice from the AHPPC that we needed to take a precautionary approach in response to this case, the Australian Government suspended the green zone arrangements with New Zealand for the next 72 hours. This has meant that anyone arriving into Australia from New Zealand since 2:00pm on Monday has been required to go into hotel quarantine on arrival. Today, we have been advised by the New Zealand authorities that two more positive cases have been identified in New Zealand in people who had also been in hotel quarantine at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland. The situation is evolving rapidly. We will be following up the details of both of these cases with the New Zealand authorities once further details, including the results of additional testing, are known. The Australian Government has not made a decision about whether to lift the pause on green zone flights at this time.
Very happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
With regards to the cases in New Zealand, if they are found to be historic or they are weak positive results, if they are historic cases, is that likely to mean at the end of the 72 hours we will go back to that green zone travel? What would be the threshold to return to that?
MICHAEL KIDD:
So we need to wait until we hear further details from our colleagues in New Zealand about the further tests which are being carried out. We do expect that it is likely that both of these people would have had tests carried out while they were in quarantine, during their 14 days in quarantine, but again we need to wait and get those results.
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Professor Kidd, are you concerned that travellers from a Western Sydney hot spot were able to travel through the ACT, to several national institutions undetected?
MICHAEL KIDD:
I have only just received a report about this so we are getting further information from the Australian Federal Police and from ACT health authorities. I will be able to provide you with further details once we have those.
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Earlier today Tony Abbott described the coronavirus restrictions in Australia as hysteria because there was only 28,000 cases, what do you make of those comments?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Well we are living through this dreadful pandemic and we’ve just seen this terrible milestone of 100 million people being diagnosed with COVID-19. This is a very serious situation; this is a very serious infectious disease. The Australian public health authorities, in fact all health workers in Australia, are doing an extraordinary job in keeping the people of Australia safe during this time.
I have some people on the phone. Do I have Josh from The New Daily?
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Yeah, thank you Professor. I just wanted to clarify on the AstraZeneca vaccine, the international supplies that Australia are getting. We had a contract for 3.8 million doses from overseas, Minister Hunt said on Monday we may now be getting 1.2 million. Can you clarify please, will that be 1.2 million overall full stop from overseas or is that to start and then we get the remainder in the future sometime? And if so, could we instead then boost the number that we’re making at CSL, instead of making 50 million doses there, could we make, say 52 million, so we still end up with that 54 million overall?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Thank you. So certainly from the AstraZeneca vaccine if and when it's approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration we will have enough supply of that vaccine to vaccinate everyone who is in Australia. The great advantage we have with the AstraZeneca vaccine is this is being produced onshore in Australia by CSL and this means we will not be subject to some of the concerns about the supply of vaccine that we have seen affect people in some of the countries overseas. I can't tell you the exact number of AstraZeneca vaccine doses that we will be expecting to arrive in the country at what time. Certainly we are expecting to get, after approval, we are expecting to get international doses first and then very soon after that we will have the locally-produced doses available.
Thanks Josh. Jade?
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Thank you. When the Australian Government announced a decision to suspend the travel corridor with New Zealand for 72 hours, I think that takes us to tomorrow, so we would be expecting a decision then, are you able to say when Australia will make a decision about whether or not to extend that further or is it too early to say?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Yes, so the current arrangement runs until 2:00pm tomorrow. That's when the 72 hours expires. We'll be getting further advice we expect overnight from our colleagues in New Zealand and a decision will be made tomorrow as to what happens with the temporary pause that we’ve had on those green zone flights. So we’ll have further details about that tomorrow.
And Naveen from SBS?
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Hi Michael, so the Government has just poured $24 million into this advertising campaign to make sure people get the vaccine. How important is it for Australians to feel confident about the vaccines that are on offer? And also, how important is it that take-up is high?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Yes, thank you. So, as you advised, the campaign has begun to inform the people of Australia about the vaccine programme, to tackle COVID-19. We are keen to see every person in Australia receive the COVID-19 vaccine. We’re working very closely with many community leaders, including the representatives of culturally and linguistically diverse communities across Australia with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders and with many others so that we can get the information out about the safety and the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. Clearly, until we have very significant numbers of people vaccinated in Australia, we can’t look at easing up on the restrictions that we’ve had – those public health measures, that have been so much a part of our lives over the past 12 months. So, I want to encourage everybody, when it comes to be your turn in the priority list to get the vaccine, to please line up, get vaccinated. This will help to protect your health and wellbeing, as well as protecting your family, and the wider community.
Thanks Naveen. Rachel?
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Thanks Professor. The EU has put controls on both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, which could delay shipments of that. Has there been any communication to Australia about this, and will that effect [Indistinct]?
MICHAEL KIDD:
So, at the moment, the advice from Pfizer is that we are still expecting the initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be coming into Australia in the latter part of February, and we expect the vaccination of people in Australia with that Pfizer vaccine to still commence late in February. So at the moment, we don’t have any concerns about the supply that Pfizer has coming into Australia.
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Can I just-
MICHAEL KIDD:
[Talks over] Yes, Rachel.
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Can I just ask you a question, sorry. How is the vaccine programme going to change the hotel quarantine system? You know, could international arrivals have shorter or less strict quarantine conditions, and if so when would those changes be made?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Thanks Rachel, it’s a great, great question. I think it’s too early though, to make those sort of decisions. We still need to learn a lot about these vaccines, including whether someone who is vaccinated as well as being protecting from developing serious disease from COVID, whether they may still be able to transmit COVID-19 to other people if they did come in contact with someone who’s infected. We also don’t yet know how long the vaccine is going to last, how long the immunity is going to last, and whether people are going to require a booster. As we, of course, do each year with Influenza vaccines. So I think that it’s still a fair way down the track. We need to follow up, see what’s happening, see [Audio skip] as the knowledge becomes greater, we’ll be able to start to answer some of those questions about the future of hotel quarantine and other travel arrangements.
Thanks Rachel. Any final questions in the room?
JOURNALIST QUESTION:
Hopefully in a month we will be giving our Pfizer vaccines to those first priority groups. Between now and then we’re awaiting the location of where the hubs will be, advise for pregnant women, advise the elderly and frail. Those are obviously serious concerns that Australians want to know answers to, when can they expect, over the next two weeks, to learn some of that information? Will it be included in those ads that you’re rolling out, and how often is the AHPPC meeting at the moment to discuss those issues?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Thank you. So, the AHPPC at the moment is meeting daily because of the concerns we’ve had about the New Zealand case and the variant of concern. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, ATAGI, as part of its normal process when a vaccine is approved, it then goes through all the evidence and it makes recommendations about the safety for different population groups. So, the ATAGI group at the moment is looking at those issues around women who are pregnant, women who are breastfeeding, frail elderly people who are at the end of life, and other groups. And that information will be released once they’ve made their determinations. The issue about the hubs around the country, this is part of the work which is taking place between the Australian and the states and territories. As you know, these initial 30-50 major hubs, where the Pfizer vaccine will be going to, are going to be in large centres, and they’ll be places where those priority groups will either come to those centres. The hospital workers, the other healthcare workers at risk of coming in contact with COVID-19, the quarantine workers and the border workers. All they will taking the vaccine from those hubs with our outreach teams to the residential age care and disability care centres.
That's great. Thank you everybody. Thanks for your time.
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