Health News at Your Fingertips

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says allowing adolescents aged 16 and 18 to receive a Pfizer booster vaccine is a “positive step forward” in the vaccination rollout, but more assistance to the sector is needed.

It comes following a recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

RACGP president Dr Karen Price:

With tens of thousands of new Covid-19 cases emerging every day and students returning to school the timing couldn’t be better. These adolescents are in the senior years of their schooling so it’s so vital to offer them the increased protection a booster vaccine provides.

We know from studies based on emerging real-world data that mRNA boosters, such as Pfizer, provide roughly 86% protection against symptomatic Omicron infection and 98% against severe infection.

But Price said practices still needed more help to deliver the vaccinations in a timely manner:

We are flat out delivering kid’s vaccines, which is more time intensive and complicated compared to adults, as well as boosters and taking care of our day-to-day patient case load. Some people avoided or delayed screenings and consults during the pandemic and others have had to delay elective surgery, so helping those people is also a high priority.

If we are to continue as the backbone of the vaccine rollout, we really need more support from the federal government. Many practices are having enormous difficulty absorbing the cost of taking part in the rollout. We didn’t sign up to make money but at the end of the day we must make ends meet because no one benefits when a practice has to shut up shop.

Back in Victoria, where the premier, Daniel Andrews, is speaking to reporters:

One in six Gold Coasters may have had Covid-19 around the peak of the Queensland wave, a randomised household survey has found.

The Gold Coast public health unit went door-to-door last month to 117 households across Gold Coast suburbs collecting PCR tests.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the surveillance initiative delivered higher than expected results. Of those tested, twenty were positive to Covid-19 but only one in four reported having any symptoms.

Only one in ten were aware they were positive.

Palaszczuk:

Initial results indicate Covid-19 is considerably more common in the community than reported and that many people who are infectious may not be aware.

This particularly true for fully vaccinated and boosted Queenslanders, who are benefiting from the protective effects of the vaccine.

A follow-up survey performed a week later on 29 January saw the rate of infection halve to one in 13.

The four Victoria police officers who lost their lives on the eastern freeway in Melbourne will be remembered today at a statewide memorial service.

Leading senior constable Lynette Taylor, senior constable Kevin King, constable Josh Prestney and constable Glen Humphris died on 22 April 2020 following a horror truck crash in the emergency lane of the freeway.

The Victorian government is lighting buildings across the city blue following the service, to be held at Marvel stadium in Melbourne.

Premier Daniel Andrews:

The loss of Lynette, Kevin, Josh and Glen was devastating for their families, their colleagues at Victoria police and all Victorians.

Approvals to build houses fell by a further 1.8% in December, continuing a slide from the record peak in April in 2021, AAP reports.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said private sector house approvals have now dropped 31.5% since April.

The director of construction statistics at ABS, Daniel Rossi, said:

While approvals for private houses have fallen from all-time highs, the series remains at historically elevated levels, with the December result 20.5% higher than the pre-pandemic level in December 2019.

Overall approvals rose 8.2% in December, driven by a 27.5% increase in dwellings excluding houses.

Separate data showed the construction industry suffered a slump over December and January due to the impact of the Omicron variant, continuing the sector’s volatile run over the past six months.

The Australian Industry Group Housing Industry Association performance of construction index dropped 11.1 points to 45.9 over December and January, cutting short a recovery in November.

It was the weakest index result since August last year, with a reading below 50 indicating the sector is in contraction.

Ai Group chief policy advisor, Peter Burn:

This latest downturn was driven by disruptions to labour supply, material supplies and business and household confidence associated with the rapid spread of the Omicron strain.

Builders and constructors are hoping the reductions in Covid-19 infections evident over the past couple of weeks will ease some of the extra constraints evident over the past couple of months but they, like everyone else, are geared for further uncertainty and volatility.

Over in WA, a bushfire Watch and Act order is in place south of Perth in the shire of Manjimup.

People in the area bounded by Muir Highway to the north, Deeside Coast Road to the east, Kin Kin Rd to the south and Wheatley Coast Road to the west are under a possible threat to their lives as a fire approaches, burning in a west-southerly direction.

Catholic Health Australia is calling on health minister Greg Hunt to immediately change Australia’s official definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ from two doses to three.

Earlier today, Hunt said he was waiting for the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) to consider changing the definition.

But the manager of health policy at CHA, Alex Lynch, said it was “misleading” for states to be reporting a fully vaccinated rate of 95% for double doses which was “inadequate” at protecting people from Covid-19:

Health authorities are struggling to convince Australians to go out and get their booster and part of this is surely because people feel complacent when they see such impressive headline figures.

A huge contributor to the speed of vaccination last year was people feeling responsibility for getting low rates to climb. We need to put that impetus on society once again.

We now know that Covid-19 vaccinations are losing effectiveness just months after the second dose is received. A truly fully vaccinated community, with three doses for all who are eligible, will help alleviate pressure on our hospitals and start getting us back to normal.

National LGBTIQ+ rights organisation Equality Australia has cautiously welcomed comments by prime minister Scott Morrison foreshadowing amendments next week to better protect LGBTQ+ people in religious schools.

But the organisation has called for the Religious Discrimination Bill to be scrapped, warning it will result in widespread discrimination.

Morrison’s comments were made on B105.3 this morning at the same time Citipointe Christian School announced it was withdrawing a controversial enrolment contract that labelled homosexuality as “sinful and offensive” and included a provision that allowed the school to exclude trans and gender diverse students.

Equality Australia legal director, Ghassan Kassisieh:

The PM made a commitment in 2018 to remove the outdated carve-outs in national anti-discrimination laws which allow discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in religious schools. This reform is long overdue, and better protections must apply to both teachers and students.

But the Morrison government’s Religious Discrimination Bill will invite exactly this type of practice in employment across faith-based organisations, from schools, aged-care services, emergency accommodation and hospitals.

The PM may be putting out one small fire, but his Religious Discrimination Bill will unleash a firestorm of discrimination in religious organisations against anyone that holds a different belief from their faith-based employer – even when they can faithfully do the job that is required of them.

The Religious Discrimination Bill allows religious organisations like schools, hospitals, aged care and disability service providers to draw up contracts that require its workers to sign away their own religious and non-religious beliefs in order to keep their jobs.

Kassisieh:

If the PM is serious about fulfilling his 2018 election commitment, he would end discrimination against LGBTQ+ students and staff in religious schools by delivering simple legislation to stop schools from firing, expelling or discriminating against them for who they are.

And if his government is serious about protecting people of faith from discrimination, he must withdraw the Religious Discrimination Bill and do what he promised to do; deliver a simple reform that protects all of us, equally.

Here are the latest Covid numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 82 deaths from Covid 19:

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 529
• In hospital: 63 (1 person in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 38
• Cases: 12,632
• In hospital: 2,578 (160 people in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: nine
• Cases: 8,643
• In hospital: 749 (71 people in ICU)

SA

• Deaths: one
• Cases: 1,583
• In hospital: 226 (18 people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 34
• Cases: 12,157
• In hospital: 752 (82 people in ICU)

WA

Queenslanders might want to avoid mosquitos while also dodging Covid this summer: