Emergency vaccine meeting as Victoria records one new local COVID-19 case - The Age

Victoria has recorded one new local coronavirus case in the past day, as the nation’s leaders meet to discuss the troubled vaccination rollout.

Eight new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine. More than 16,000 test results were processed in the past 24 hours and more than 10,900 people received their vaccine doses.

The vaccination centre at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton.Credit:Getty

The figures come as Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino again took a swipe at the Commonwealth’s delayed vaccine rollout on Monday morning, saying Australia is falling behind the world.

“In terms of where we are right now, we are well behind where we need to be,” he said. “So, when you compare how Australia is going with the rest of the world, we are falling so far behind it’s not funny.”

Leaders plan to focus on the rollout at an emergency national cabinet meeting on Monday after last week’s decision to limit the AstraZeneca shot to over-60s.

Mr Merlino said his government would raise the limited vaccine supply at the meeting and push for the Commonwealth to treat the rollout as a race.

“What we need to see out of national cabinet today, and for the rest of the year, is a sense of urgency, an acknowledgment that this is a race and that we need more supply, not fewer doses, coming to Victoria in July and August, but more supply so that we can meet the demand that is out there.

Vaccination experts are concerned the reputation of the AstraZeneca jab has been tarnished beyond repair, leaving Australians dangerously exposed, although demand seemed to hold up initially after almost 65,000 doses were administered nationwide on Saturday.

Victoria was receiving about 71,000 Pfizer doses of vaccine each week, which has been temporarily increased to 105,000 due to the latest coronavirus outbreak. That will fall to about 83,000 doses from July 5.

“People want to get vaccinated. We need people to get vaccinated,” Mr Merlino said on Monday. “The higher the proportion of your population that is vaccinated, the better options there are for public health advice in terms of how we get through this pandemic.”

On Sunday, a $5 million investment in the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences was announced. It is hoped the institute will begin clinical trials of a locally produced mRNA vaccine by November and have results by mid-2022.

Meanwhile, the federal government said it would start using GPs to administer the Pfizer shot, as well as all Commonwealth vaccination centres, but limited supplies threaten to slow immunisation rates.

More to come

• with Sumeyya Ilanbey, Cara Waters and Anna Patty

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Emergency vaccine meeting as Victoria records one new local COVID-19 case - The Age
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