You cant distribute what you dont have Supply blamed for not making year 12s vaccine priority

The Andrews government will aim to vaccinate every Victorian year 12 student with their first dose before exams start, blaming a lack of supply for the decision not to make the cohort a vaccine priority.

VCE exams are set to begin in October and, given the gap between Pfizer vaccine doses has been extended to six weeks, many students will not have had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated before they start.

“You can’t distribute what you don’t have,” Health Minister Martin Foley said on Monday.

His comments come as Victoria recorded 73 new local cases of coronavirus on Monday and as authorities considered whether some restrictions can be safely eased across the state.

Fifty-two of the new cases were linked to the current outbreaks, and authorities were investigating the acquisition source for the remaining 21 cases. Monday’s cases were recorded from nearly 42,000 COVID-19 tests.

At least 24 of the new cases were in isolation throughout their entire infectious period.

Concern over mystery cases in western suburbs

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said authorities were particularly concerned about mystery cases in Melbourne’s western suburbs, identifying them as a “challenge” that could potentially block any easing of restrictions.

“Those areas that are seeing the mystery cases â€" in particular Hobsons Bay, Wyndham, and Hume ... they present a challenge for all of us in it terms of changing the restrictions going forward,” he said.

Senior government ministers consider easing some restrictions, including reopening playgrounds and allowing year 12 students back into the classroom.

Scenes from Melbourne lockdown: La Trobe Street last week.Credit:Paul Jeffers

State government sources, who spoke to The Age on the condition of anonymity to provide insights into high-level discussions, said ministers would consider which restrictions could be wound back as epidemiologists warned reaching zero cases in Victoria was increasingly unlikely.

Senior government officials are expected to make a final decision on Tuesday about what lockdown will look like beyond Thursday when it was scheduled to end.

More than 26,700 people received their COVID-19 vaccine doses on Sunday. There are currently no first-dose Pfizer vaccination bookings available in Victoria, but Mr Foley has urged people not to give up getting one.

“As more becomes available from the Commonwealth, we put more [bookings in the system],” he said.

Victoria records 73 new cases

Nine are linked to Shepparton

Five are linked to MyCentre Child Care in Broadmeadows 

Five are linked to Al-Taqwa College

Three are linked to Hobsons Bay

Two are linked to Glenroy West Primary School 

Two are linked to the Sunshine Hospital emergency department 

Two are linked to Chemist Warehouse in Hoppers Crossing

One is linked to the wider Royal Melbourne Hospital outbreak

One is linked to the St Kilda east outbreak 

One is linked to Barkly Square in Brunswick 

One is linked to CS Square shopping centre in Caroline Springs 

20 are linked to existing cases, but those original cases don’t have a known source

21 are mystery cases 

SOURCE: Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton

Forty-nine people are in hospital in Victoria with COVID-19. Of those people, 15 are in the intensive care unit, and 11 are on a ventilator.

NSW has reported 1290 new local cases on Monday, the highest number ever recorded in a state in one day, and four deaths.

Victorian year 12s to get first vaccine jab before exams

On Monday, Mr Foley blamed a lack of supply for a slow vaccine rollout among year 12 students.

“It’s extraordinarily difficult to get to a Pfizer vaccine, which is the recommended vaccine for the age group that we’re talking about ... through our state-run systems today because they’re all booked.”

Mr Foley said first doses had always been the goal for VCE students ahead of exams. When asked during a COVID-19 press conference update on Monday whether the gap between doses could be shortened to three weeks for year 12 students to speed the process up, he replied authorities would consult the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Children’s hospital ward among new exposure sites

Coronavirus exposure sites across the state have passed 900 venues, with the children’s ward at Dandenong Hospital among the new venues added on Monday morning.

The ward was declared a tier-2 exposure site across three days, from last Wednesday through to Friday, as was ward north 1 at the hospital.

Coles Melbourne Central in the CBD was also declared a tier-2 site for an hour last Wednesday, and a number of service stations, pharmacies and supermarkets were also declared casual contact sites.

On Sunday evening, Echuca Community for the Aged’s Wharparilla Lodge was listed as a tier-1 site across nearly a fortnight: from Friday, August 13 to Thursday, August 26.

Tier 1 means anyone who attended the site during the specified timeframes has to immediately get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of whether they receive a negative test result.

Several more tier-2 or casual contact sites were identified late on Sunday evening, including another Melbourne apartment complex, laundries in Richmond and St Kilda, and service stations.

Woolworths at Shepparton was declared a tier-2 exposure site across several hours on Monday, August 23, while Woolworths at Arden Gardens, North Melbourne was declared tier-2 between 4.30 am and 1.30pm on Sunday, August 22.

Cassandra Morgan is a breaking news reporter at The Age.

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