Live: Prime Minister announces 1 million more doses of Moderna COVID vaccine

By Jacqueline Howard

Case numbers and press conference times

• Queensland: 0 new cases. 37 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated. Watch the press conference
• Victoria: 392 new cases. 40 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated. Watch the press conference
• New South Wales: 1,262 new cases, 7 deaths. 45 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated. Watch the press conference
• ACT: 15 new cases. 50 per cent of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated. Watch the press conference

We will continue to update this post throughout the day. 

Victoria looking forward to Moderna shipments 

Mr Andrews said Victoria was looking forward to the arrival of Moderna vaccine shipments and called for an equal split of doses.

He says he’d like to see about one quarter go to Victoria. “I think a pro rata share would be good, so 26 per cent, something along those lines,” he says. 

“I think we’ll very soon see some announcements about some additional doses coming from the Commonwealth Government. It would be my intention, through these pop ups and other decisions we’ll make, to push them into the north and west where we have the highest number of cases. I won’t so much go off the speculation in one of the papers today. I will wait for the Prime Minister to pick up the phone and tell us.

“That’s what we’re owed, that’s the fair and equitable outcome.”

Mr Andrews has been firm in his assertions that Victoria deserved reparations from the Federal Government.

“A pro rata allocation is critically important and if you’re behind, then there needs to be a catch-up, there needs to be a make-good, there needs to be a a square-up for the fact that when some doses that should have come to us went elsewhere.”

Morrison celebrates ‘family sized dose of hope’ as additional Moderna vaccine secured

“Some good news today. A family sized dose of hope for our vaccination program, I have confirmed today that the Federal Government has secured an additional 1 million the donor doses from the European Union member states,” the Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

The Prime Minister says the additional one million doses of the Moderna vaccine being sent from the EU will arrive ‘next weekend’. Mr Morrison says this will allow for the ‘doubling’ of Moderna doses through September.

Mr Morrison says ATAGI is recommending Moderna for those aged 12 – 59.

“That means everyone from 12 to 59 can go along to the community pharmacy where Moderna is being administered and they can go and get a family jab,” he said.

Those new doses will be sent to around 3,600 pharmacies across the country, with half of those beginning to receive shipments from 20 September.

Mr Morrison clarified that anyone in the eligible age group is now able to contact their local pharmacy receiving doses and book an appointment.

Victoria to release its own roadmap to freedom in coming week 

The Premier would not comment on NSW’s plan, but says Victorians will get an idea of how the approach to coming out of lockdown will look this week. 

He says the coming week will be a big one for the state, with announcements to come on mandatory vaccinations for workers and a strategy on reducing restrictions. 

ACT records 15 new cases

Eight of these are linked, and the rest are in the early stages of investigations.

Five were in quarantine through the whole infectious period. At least nine of the new cases spent part of their infectious period in the community.

There are ten people in hospitals across the ACT, a lower number than yesterday. Three are in the ICU and one is ventilated.  Eight of those in hospital are unvaccinated, one has had one dose, and the status of one is unknown.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said police are dealing with a recurring problem in a small number of businesses where staff are not wearing masks properly. 

Vic: Is it realistic that kids will be back in the classroom for term 4? 

Dan Andrews says he wants to get kids back into school as much as anyone, but won’t do it without clear health advice. He says they want to get the kids back in the classroom as soon as they can, but won’t take any risks.

He says he hopes to have some announcement in a week’s time on rules for going forward. 

“All those issues are predicated on people getting vaccinated,” he says.  

Why is the Louis Vuitton store in Crown Casino open? 

There’s click and collect for retail, and the premier says he’s not clear on that site specifically but there is click and collect which could be why it is an exposure site. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces 1 million more doses of Moderna

He said the EU would be sending an additional million doses of the vaccine to arrive next weekend.

Tune in to that press conference here:

Deputy Chief Health Officer Dan O’Brien broke down Victoria’s case numbers 

255 cases in the northern suburbs

• The vast majority of those were in Hume with 137, but the other two large LGAs with a lot of cases were Moreland which had 49 and Whittlesea which had 42.  
• There were 14 cases in Darebin and 11 cases in Yarra. 

89 cases from the western suburbs

• 30 were in Wyndham
• 19 in Hobsons Bay
• 13 in Brimbank
• 11 in Melbourne
• Seven in Melton
• Eight in Moonee Valley. 

38 cases from the south-east area, mainly focused in Casey

• Six in the Greater Dandenong area
• Four in Stonnington
• Four in the Yarra Ranges
• Three in Port Phillip

Five cases in regional Victoria reported yesterday

• One in Greater Geelong
• One in Mildura
• One in the Macedon Ranges related to a V/Line case
• Two in East Gippsland which may turn out to be false positives.

Of significance, an outbreak at the Fitzroy Community School in North Fitzroy has infected an estimated 30 people including both staff and students.

The Panorama Box Hill construction site has recorded no further cases to add to it’s 116 cases, which health authorities said is pleasing.

Tune in to the ACT press conference here

Berejiklian on international travel

The NSW Premier confirms her state is still aiming to open borders by Christmas.

“It is only a matter of time before Delta becomes part of every state’s experience. But I would like to think that by Christmas, not only will we be welcoming home more Australians, thousands every week from overseas to reunite for Christmas, but also that we don’t have these internal state borders that we have, and I predict that New South Wales and Victoria will work more closely about these matters moving forward. 

“And if you look at the way that things have been tracking, there is no doubt Victoria and New South Wales will be in similar positions in relation to being able to welcome home Australians, and also in relation to how we live with COVID, and that is really important to remember.”

The NSW Premier is asked how the community will ask questions of the government without the daily press conference

Here’s Gladys Berejiklian’s response:

“We never said we would change format every day, quite the contrary. We will provide information that is best for the community. And I was very upfront and honest to say that, while there would be ample information provided on a daily basis, I will not necessarily be the one providing the information on a daily basis, and that is because, as I have said, I need a clear head.

“The next two months will be the most challenging our state has seen, perhaps ever. And I need to make sure we are not only making decisions for the next day but for the next week and next month and it’s really important to make sure all of government is prepared for what the next few months bring us.

“We are the first to outline a roadmap of living with COVID and outlining travel resuming internationally, the quarantine system on a large scale. There are a lot of firsts that New South Wales is doing and we need to make sure we do all those decisions in the right way, with all of the resources of government.”

 Victoria: Stats from Saturday

• 3,112 active cases in Victoria 
• 36,534 vaccine doses administered at state-run sites yesterday 
• There are 147 Victorians in hospital 
• 34 are in intensive care, 28 are on ventilators 
• Of the cases in hospital yesterday, only one was fully vaccinated 

Victoria case locations 

Of the 392 cases recorded, two-thirds were located in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. 

• 255 cases in northern suburbs (137 in Hume)
• 89 cases in western suburbs
• 38 in south-east Melbourne 
• Five were in regional Victoria: 1 in Greater Geelong, 1 in Mildura, 1 in the Macedon Ranges related to the V-Line case and 2 in East Gippsland (which may turn out to be false positives in East Gippsland says the premier)

Here’s the link to that interactive map of vaccines across NSW

NSW CHO Dr Kerry Chant just directed us all to have a look at an interactive map on the NSW government website that shows the vaccine rollout progress by suburb across the state. Here’s the link to check that out. It also breaks down cases by suburb.

The pop-up clinics across Victoria 

• Dandenong High School 
• Point Cook Secondary College 
• Gladstone Park Secondary College 
• Roxburgh College 
• Brunswick Secondary College 
• Tarneit Senior College 
• Werribee Secondary College 
• Lakeview Senior College 

There will also be community pop ups in Hume, Dandenong and Casey LGAs – including a Greek Orthodox Church in Thornbury, a Hindu temple site in Mill Park and a mosque in Newport. 

New pop-up vaccination sites confirmed across Victoria 

There will be new pop-up vaccination hubs opening up across Victoria, targeting 100 priority postcodes. 

Using supply secured through agreements with Singapore and the UK, there will be five new community-based pop-ups and eight school-based pop-ups with more to open soon. 

Daniel Andrews says: “It’s just removing another barrier, taking the vaccinations to you as it were,” 

The school-based pop-ups will be available to students, families of students as well as teachers and school staff. 

NSW CHO says there is hope that this is the peak of cases in NSW

Dr Kerry Chant says she is hopeful that previous modelling proves correct and that case numbers are peaking in the state. However, she said it relies on how well outbreaks outside the LGAs of concern are managed.

“I am still hoping that we peak. But to some extent, those projections depend how effectively we can control the spread outside the local government areas of concern.

“Our response is what we can do in terms of setting and establishing the public health orders, but it is also very much in the hands of the community in terms of how they are responding, industry, how they are responding.”

Victoria: 7,000 Pfizer first-dose appointments available at state-run clinics 

There were 36,534 doses administered yesterday – it was the biggest Saturday by “quite some margin” says Daniel Andrews.

So far, 65.2 per cent of Victorians have received their first dose. There are also only 92,000 doses to go before Victoria reaches one million doses administered. 

The Premier also says that there are 7,000 first-dose Pfizer appointments available in the coming week across state-run clinics. 

NSW eases restrictions for those with two doses of a vaccine from tomorrow

From tomorrow, people across NSW who have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed more freedoms.

For those who live outside the LGAs of concern, up to 5 fully vaccinated adults can engage in outdoor recreation in a person’s LGA or within 5km of home. Children under 12 will not be counted in this total.

For those who live in the LGAs of concern, a household with all adults vaccinated will be able to engage in outdoor recreation (including picnics) for up to 2 hours within the existing rules (outside of curfew hours and within 5km of home). This is in addition to the ability to engage in outdoor exercise.

People who live alone in the LGAs of concern can gather with one other adult to participate in outdoor recreation within the same existing rules.