SA to get 50,000 of extra Pfizer doses as original Modbury cluster case leaves hospital

As South Australia prepares to expand its coronavirus vaccine rollout from Monday, the state is set to receive almost 50,000 of the extra 1 million Pfizer doses secured by the federal government.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison today announced the government had procured the doses from Poland.

The first batches are currently in transit and are expected to arrive in Australia tonight.

More than half will be used to combat the New South Wales outbreak and the rest shared between the remaining states and territories on a per capita basis.

South Australian authorities last week announced an expansion of the state’s vaccine rollout, with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines on offer to anyone aged 16 and over from Monday.

“As of 9:00am, every South Australian 16 and over can book in to have their vaccination … there are a lot of people who are extraordinarily excited about the opportunity,” SA Premier Steven Marshall said.

Mr Marshall said that the South Australian allocation of the additional Pfizer jabs, on the eve of the expansion of the vaccination rollout, equated to “almost 50,000 doses that we weren’t counting on”.

“This is an additional 50,000 Pfizer doses going into the arms of South Australians,” he said.

South Australia currently has two active cases of the virus and a man in his 20s remains in intensive care.

A man and a woman in their 80s, including the original case in the Modbury cluster, were discharged from hospital in the last 24 hours.

SA Health said they were no longer considered infectious and have been allowed to go home.

Push for ‘purpose-built’ quarantine

SA yesterday tightened its cross-border arrangements, closing a travel bubble with Broken Hill hours before regional NSW went into lockdown.

On Thursday night, an international traveller undertaking quarantine “deliberately breached hotel security” by leaving an Adelaide medi-hotel for eight hours, police said.

Labor said the breach highlighted the need for a dedicated “purpose-built quarantine” facility to replace the current medi-hotel arrangements.

“As long as we’re trying to use tourist-based hotels to try and keep a virus like Delta locked in, it is inherently unsafe,” Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said.

But Mr Marshall defended the current hotel quarantine arrangements, saying they were in line with “expert health advice”.

“That’s the advice we’ve received. It’s been a very good situation for South Australia since day one to listen to those experts. We’re going to continue [to do that] into the future,” he said.

He said a report into the breach was currently being prepared by SA Police and would be made public.

The Premier today also announced the next two rounds of the Great State Voucher tourism scheme, to boost domestic travel.

Vouchers of $200 will be soon available for “multi-day hosted experiences”, and $100 vouchers for “single-day” activities.

In another tourism initiative, the latest round of the SA Tourism Commission’s Tourism Industry Development Fund will involve the distribution of $2.7 million between 18 projects and businesses.

“The regions have never seen the type of visitation that they’re currently experiencing,” the Premier said.

During Mr Marshall’s media conference, a member of the public challenged the Premier on the vaccine rollout and whether it would be mandatory.

Mr Marshall said the state was on track for 70 per cent uptake by the end of the year but was committed to ensuring it remained voluntary.

“People can make up their own decision on whether or not to be vaccinated,” he said.

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