Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has received the coronavirus vaccine as the country prepares to start inoculations this week.

His jab was televised on Sunday in order to help boost confidence in the vaccine rollout across Australia.

Vaccinations officially begin on Monday and at least 60,000 doses are expected to be administered next week.

On Saturday, small crowds of anti-vaccination demonstrators gathered to protest against the launch.

Mr Morrison was part of a small group of people vaccinated on Sunday along with some frontline health workers and care home residents. Australia's chief nurse Professor Alison McMillan and Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly were also immunised.

Speaking at ahead of his vaccination, Mr Morrison said: "Tomorrow our vaccination programme starts, so as a curtain raiser today we're here making some very important points; that it's safe, that it's important, and we need to start with those who are most vulnerable and are on the front line."

The first person to be vaccinated in the country was 85-year-old Jane Malysiak.

The first vaccinations in Australia will be the Pfizer vaccine which has been granted approval for use.

Australia's medical regulator earlier this week also granted provisional approval for the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is expected to be rolled out next month. Health Minister Greg Hunt says he will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming weeks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56143277

Australia and New Zealand have received their first COVID-19 vaccine deliveries and will begin rolling out inoculations in the coming week, while populous cities of Melbourne and Auckland remained locked down following the emergence of new cases.

“The Eagle has landed,” Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Canberra on Monday as the first shipment of 142,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech touched down.

Vaccination in Australia will start from Feb. 22.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the first batch of 60,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines had arrived and would undergo safety checks before border workers start receiving vaccinations from Saturday.

“This will be the largest full-scale vaccination campaign in this country’s history,” Ardern said.

“We have purchased enough vaccines to cover all New Zealanders and to do so for free. That includes all those in New Zealand regardless of their visa status,” Ardern said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia-new-zeal-idUSKBN2AF0AL

Australia's medical regulator has approved the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for use in Australia.

It is the second vaccine given the green light by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) after it approved the Pfizer vaccine last month.

In a statement, the TGA said it had approved the vaccine for use in people aged over 18 years.

It said while people over the age of 65 "demonstrated a strong immune response" to the vaccine, there were not enough people infected by COVID-19 in the clinical trials to determine the overall efficacy for that age group.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-16/coronavirus-astrazeneca-vaccine-approved-for-use-in-australia/13115784

Australia recorded a fourth day of zero coronavirus cases on Thursday, prompting the chief of the country’s most populous state to call for a special travel “bubble” with Pacific island nations.

New South Wales has reined in an outbreak in mid-December that prompted a strict lockdown in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, while broader social distancing rules and mandatory mask wearing were imposed for the rest of the city.

Signalling those restrictions were set to be eased next week, Premier Gladys Berejiklien told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper the federal government should consider establishing a travel arrangement with the Pacific.

“There is no reason why we shouldns’t aim to travel to New Zealand or some of the Pacific Islands well within the next 12 months,” Berejiklian said.

The comments come after Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly cautioned about restarting international travel, given the country was in an “envious position” compared to most of the world.

Unlike other countries, Australia has closed its international borders, only allowing its stranded citizens back home.

https://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUSKBN29Q06D

Australia is on course to record its second straight day of zero local COVID-19 cases, helped by tougher restrictions on public movement and internal borders, but authorities continued to urge more people to get tested to track undetected cases.

Australia has been seeking to contain fresh virus outbreaks since last month with impacted regions placed under lockdown and masks made mandatory indoors but infection rates seem to have stabilised after low cases in recent days.

New South Wales (NSW), the country’s most populous state, flagged it could ease restrictions soon if testing numbers rise as more tests could help trace all unknown infections.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia-idUSKBN29K03I?taid=600138c3933c880001bc12a4

The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine in Australia has been brought forward to mid-to-late February with the Morrison government aiming to have four million receive the jab by March.

Announcing the accelerated rollout on Thursday, the prime minister Scott Morrison also indicated it would be up to the states and territories to decide whether the vaccine could be made compulsory for some groups, such as aged care workers.

Australia is aiming to complete Therapeutic Goods Administration approval of the Pfizer vaccine by late January, after which it will take up to two weeks to be delivered and up to a week for batch-testing. The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be approved in February.

Morrison set out a process to begin vaccination, with the first recipients being high-priority groups including 700,000 frontline workers in the health sector, border enforcement, hotel quarantine, aged care, and disability care; and residents of aged and disability care.

Morrison said starting with 80,000 vaccinations a week, Australia would aim to ramp that up in order to vaccinate four million people by the end of March.

The second tier of six million recipients is made up of Australians aged over 70, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over 55, healthcare workers, younger adults with underlying health conditions and emergency services workers.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/07/australia-to-roll-out-covid-vaccine-in-february-with-goal-for-four-million-jabs-by-march

Victoria has no active coronavirus cases after the last patient was discharged from hospital.

It’s the first time in 269 days that Victoria hasn’t had an active case and comes after 25 consecutive days of zero infections.

Monash infectious diseases physician Rhonda Stuart said the last active case was an elderly man who was infected with his wife in early October.

She told 3AW his wife was discharged from hospital last week and the man was discharged on Tuesday night.

The joy was twofold for the hospital, with the team responsible for treating the country’s first coronavirus case also in charge of caring for Victoria’s last, the Herald Sun reported.

Dr Stuart told the newspaper there were “mixed emotions” as doctors farewelled the man, explaining battling the virus had been a “rollercoaster ride”.

“The whole treating team have gone on that journey with them, from being really concerned to now waiting out for us to release them as the last person from isolation in Victoria,” she said. “It’s a pretty remarkable story.”

Deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said the achievement was certainly a milestone for Victoria.

“It doesn’t mean the threat is gone, but certainly a milestone considering we had 7880 active cases on August 11,” he tweeted.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/major-milestone-as-zero-active-coronavirus-cases-achieved-in-victoria/news-story/322c0d2cf7f9f108ebf0119081962235

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Australia’s two biggest states reunited in emotional scenes on Monday as the border - shut for only the second time in 101 years due to the coronavirus pandemic - reopened and the first flights since July landed in Sydney from Melbourne.

Friends, family and a musical duo in drag welcomed passengers as they disembarked Qantas flight QF401 at 7:20 a.m. (2020 GMT Sunday), the first of 26 flights scheduled between the two states on Monday.

“I can come and visit my father when I need to without having to worry about when I can get home,” one passenger said as she disembarked.

The border between New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria states closed in July due to an outbreak of COVID-19 around Melbourne - Australia’s second-largest city. It was the first such border closure since 1919 when Australia was battling the Spanish flu.

The outbreak in Victoria, which totalled more than 20,000 cases, was only contained after a stringent lockdown lasting more than 100 days.

But with Victoria going more than three weeks without detecting any COVID-19 infections, authorities made the decision to reopen the border much to the relief of separated families and the tourism and aviation sectors.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/biggest-australian-states-reopen-borders-as-coronavirus-cases-ease-idUSKBN2820U9

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Face masks will no longer be required outside in Victoria from midnight, as long as physical distancing can be maintained.

Victorians will still need to wear face masks indoors, and carry them outdoors in case they cannot physically distance.

"If you go to Bunnings and you are inside the store, you are wearing a mask. If you are in the car park, you do not have to wear your mask," Premier Daniel Andrews said.

"But if you are queueing up for a sausage, and you are with other people, and you are simply not keeping a distance — you are part of a crowd, you need to put the mask on."

Masks remain mandatory on public transport.

Indoor venues like cinemas, art galleries and museums will be able to host up to 150 people indoors.

The number of patrons allowed indoors at large hospitality venues will increase to 150, with total venue capacity capped at 300 — subject to a density quota of one person per four square metres in larger venues.

But for smaller hospitality venues, the density limit has been relaxed to allow one person per two square metres, with a limit of 50 customers.

Adult contact and non-contact sport will also be allowed to start up again.

For indoor sports there will be a limit of 150 people and a group size of up to 20, while outdoor sports can have up to 500 people in groups of up to 50.

Mr Andrews has also announced that Victorians will be allowed to have up to 30 visitors to their home per day by Christmas.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-22/victoria-daniel-andrews-on-coronavirus-restrictions-changes/12907456

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