Good morning, Matilda Boseley here to get you through the slog of Wednesday.
Well, it looks like the prime minister is trying to shake things up when it comes to Australia’s vaccine rollout, asking for the national cabinet to meet, not just monthly, not just fortnightly not even weekly! Yep, the prime minister and all state and territory leaders will be jumping on to a big Zoom call twice a week until the vaccine rollout is back on track.
Previously these meetings had been pared back to once a month but now the prime minister has brought forward the next meeting from 7 May to April 19 and suggested the blame for the slow rollout lies with both the federal and state governments. (Which is weird because just last week I thought it was “an issue with supply pure and simple”.)
I have requested that national cabinet and our health ministers move back to an operational footing – to work together, closely, to tackle head-on the challenges we are all facing with making our vaccination program as good as it can be …
There are issues we are trying to deal with as a federal government, and I have been upfront about those.
But amongst the states and territories, they are also tackling their own unique issues and working together we are all going to be in a better position to find the best solutions.
He said the more regular meetings would continue “until we solve the problems and get the program back on track”.
In other Covid news, the US has recommended that states pause administering the Johnson & Johnson jab while authorities investigate six reports of unusual clots, including a death, out of more than 6.8 million Americans given the one-dose vaccination so far. Just like the AstraZeneca blood-clotting cases, these were extremely rare, but occurring mostly in women under the age of 50.
This follows on from yesterday’s announcement by the Australian health minister Greg Hunt that Australia would not purchase the Johnson &Johnson vaccine because it was too similar to AstraZeneca, being another adenovirus vaccine.
OK! With that why don’t we jump into the day. If there is something you reckon I’ve missed or think should be in the blog but isn’t, shoot me a message on Twitter @MatildaBoseley or email me at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com