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Monday, June 28, 2021

AstraZeneca vaccine advice shifts to allow anybody to ask for jab

In a significant push to vaccinate many more Australians against coronavirus, National Cabinet has agreed to a new scheme giving indemnity to GPs who administer the AstraZeneca jab to people aged under 60 who ask for it.

Australian medical advice has recommended AstraZeneca only for people aged over 60, and previously as young as 50. People aged under 60 will now be eligible for the AstraZeneca jab if they request it from their GPs.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Monday night the indemnity scheme had been agreed to at an emergency National Cabinet meeting so GPs would feel comfortable administering AstraZeneca to under-60s who requested it.

READ MORE: Vaccinations to be mandatory for aged care workers, PM announces

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GPs can "actively engage with you and you can make the best decision for your health," Mr Morrisons aid.

"If you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, we would encourage you to ... go have a discussion with your GP."

Mr Morrison said 221,000 second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered last week, the week after the latest ATAGI advice about the preferred age group for the specific jab.

He said that figure showed "Australians are coming back for their second dose of AstraZeneca" despite safety hiccups.

"AstraZeneca is there for people to get vaccinated. There are many points of presence, over 5000 GPs alone where you can get that done. If people are concerned, as I'm sure they are, as I am, that I'd be encouraging them to go out and get that vaccination."

With frustrations growing across Australia at new lockdowns and restrictions in the wake of major coronavirus outbreaks, Mr Morrison said it was "completely naive" to expect the country to suddenly emerge from the pandemic.

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"It was never going to be a case where Australia was closed one day and open the next," he said.

The removal of restrictions would "evolve in stages".

"The major frustration here is the virus, that's the major thing working against Australia," he said.

"We have a lockdown because we have a new Delta variant that is proving to be highly contagious than previous variants. The question will be: what will be the next variant?"

Trio 'found at outback karaoke bar' sent back to NSW

Three friends from NSW arrested in a Coober Pedy karaoke bar have been ordered to get back in their plane and get out of South Australia.

The trio are accused of touching down after the SA border closed and again after being denied entry into the Northern Territory.

Amelia Johnson, Elizabeth Nichols and Thomas St Hill were taken to Coober Pedy airport, under police guard.

READ MORE: Restrictions back in South Australia despite no new cases

The friends were found in an outback karaoke bar in South Australia.

They were released on bail, ordered to get back in their Cessna aircraft and fly home to NSW.

The pilots touched down a day after SA shut its border with NSW amid the growing COVID-19 outbreak, boasting on social media about a Coober Pedy sunrise.

From there, they flew to Uluru, but when the NT denied them entry the trio returned to SA.

They were arrested at the United Bowls Club, in the outback town of Coober Pedy, in the midst of Friday night karaoke.

READ MORE: SA legalises voluntary euthanasia

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens slammed their behaviour.

"Right throughout our response we've seen instances of people who have sought to undermine our border protections and we've taken strict actions against those people," he said.

"These three individuals are no different.

"And they did create a short scare... one of the group initially tested positive to COVID- fortunately, it was a false reading."

The trio has been ordered to return to court, but won't have to appear in person.

Their next hearing will be over the phone, in August

The two women, aged 39 and 21, and the 27-year-old man face up to two years behind bars.

AstraZeneca jab to be made available to all who want it

Coronavirus vaccinations will become mandatory for aged care workers, the Prime Minister has announced.

Scott Morrison said the decision was made at the National Cabinet meeting between state and territory leaders.

All of those workers are expected to have their first dose by mid-September.

READ MORE: Nude sunbathers startled by deer, fined

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks after National Cabinet Meeting

The mandatory shots for residential aged care workers will be implemented in partnership between the Commonwealth and state and territory jurisdictions.

It is likely to be done using the same system used for mandatory flu vaccines for the same workers.

"This is something we wanted to see and so tonight we received the advice that would enable us to go forward with that measure," Mr Morrison said.

READ MORE: How to get vaccinated in your state

Mr Morrison said the Commonwealth Government would introduce an $11 million grant program to encourage residential aged care facilities to provide staff with leave to get vaccinated.

That leave can include situations where a person may experience some discomfort following a vaccination, Mr Morrison said.

Most of Australia's almost 1000 virus-related deaths have been in aged care homes.

Residents of St Basil's Aged care in Melbourne are evacuated to hospitals after the cluster of Covid-19 cases and deaths from the home.

New AstraZeneca guidance

Rules will be changed to allow people under 60 to get AstraZeneca, which is in greater supply if they would like it.

While it was only 'recommended' for them to have Pfizer, the way will be cleared to allow GPs to give out AstraZeneca vaccines without fear to people under that age if they make an "informed decision".

Mr Morrison confirmed GPs would have indemnity regarding AstraZeneca vaccinations, so they can "actively engage with you and you can make the best decision for your health".

"If you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, we would encourage you to pay, go have discussion with your GP," he said.

Mr Morrison said 221,000 second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered last week, the week after the latest ATAGI advice about the preferred age group for the specific jab.

He said that figure showed "Australians are coming back for their second dose of AstraZeneca" despite safety hiccups.

"AstraZeneca is there for people to get vaccinated. There are many points of presence, over 5,000GPs alone where you can get that done. If people are concerned, as I'm sure they are, as I am, that I'd be encouraging them to go out and get that vaccination," he said.

Meanwhile, over a quarter of all of the eligible population have had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, 28.6 per cent in total, Mr Morrison, said.

More than two-thirds of the over-70 population, who were among the first to be offered jabs have had their first dose, and more than half of over-50s have had their first dose.

Clive Palmer slammed over 'scaremongering' COVID flyers

Controversial businessman and former MP Clive Palmer have been slammed by medical authorities after being behind a wave of flyers accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation across Australia.

The yellow flyers, labelled with the words "Urgent Communication", contain claims about the state of the country's pandemic situation as well claims about the multiple COVID-19 vaccines available to Australians.

The flyer's statement also implicates Australia's medical watchdog, claiming "The Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Government are spreading misleading information designed to create fear in the population".

READ MORE: State-by-state guide to border restrictions and lockdowns

The flyers, labelled with the words "Urgent Communication", contain claims about the state of the country's pandemic situation as well claims about the multiple COVID vaccines available to Australians. PSA President Chris Freeman said the information presented in the flyers could be "dangerous".

The stunt has been labelled "misinformation at best" by both the TGA and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, with PSA President Chris Freeman saying the information presented could be "dangerous".

Statements made in the flyer also include "There is no pandemic in Australia".

"The more significant side effects are very very rare … and drug companies will still be held to account should things go wrong," PSA President Chris Freeman told 9News.

Residents have also accused Mr Palmer of "scaremongering" through the campaign, with some showing concern for how it might affect older Australian's decision making.

Clive Palmer.

"I just don't know what to believe and my concern is for people my age," Brisbane resident Gloria told 9News.

"There are some people that really are a bit nervous about it and when you read that it makes you more nervous ... this is too serious to play around with."

Mr Palmer has "strongly defended" the campaign in a statement, saying "all of the advertisements quoted TGA reported facts.

"I believe it is ... a reasonable assumption that if people are vaccinated and then they die … the vaccine may have been the cause of their deaths,'' Mr Palmer said.

Queensland family attacked with chainsaw, bitten following party noise complaint

A man has been attacked with an electric chainsaw and another bitten several times following an argument stemming from a loud party in Queensland

Police allege the initial altercation occurred after a father and son, aged 51 and 24, engaged with a 36-year-old man, believed to be their neighbour, in the family's front yard. 

During the argument it's alleged the 36-year-old man punched the 24-year-old man in the head and bit his arm, leg and stomach. 

READ MORE: More restrictions, mask mandate announced for Queensland

A man has been attacked with an electric chainsaw and another bitten several times following an argument stemming from a loud party in Queensland.

The 36-year-old man then proceeded to kick over and destroy the family's letterbox before leaving.

He then returned a short time later with an electric chainsaw which was used to attack the 51-year-old father. 

The father sustained injuries across his torso and to his upper arm and was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. 

The 36-year-old man will appear in Redcliffe Magistrates Court today charged with two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, and one count each of acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm and wilful damage.

Remembering the dead and missing in Florida apartment building collapse

Authorities have identified eight of the nine people confirmed to have died after the collapse of a 12-story beachfront condominium in Florida, USA.

About 150 others remained missing on Sunday as rescuers painstakingly searched through the rubble of the Champlain Towers South.

The Miami-Dade Police Department said the dead include Stacie Dawn Fang, Manuel LaFont and Antonio and Gladys Lozano. Four more people who died were identified on Sunday night as Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74; Luis Bermudez, 26; Leon Oliwkowicz, 80; and Anna Ortiz, 46.

Rescue workers digging feverishly for a fifth day on Monday stressed that they could still find survivors in the rubble of a collapsed Florida condo building, a hope family members clung to even though no one has been pulled out alive since the first day the structure fell.

READ MORE: Unprecedented heat builds in parts of USA and Canada

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The death toll rose by just four people on Sunday, to a total of nine confirmed dead.

But more than 150 people are still missing in Surfside.

Families of the missing rode buses to a site nearby from which they could watch teams at work: firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts employing radar and sonar devices.

The missing include Linda March, whose penthouse apartment was ripped apart, leaving her office chair next to the abyss; Elaine Sabino, a former baton twirler and flight attendant who stayed active as a belly dancer, and Claudio Bonnefoy, a second cousin of the former Chilean president.

LINDA MARCH

Among the missing was Linda March, who eagerly traded a cramped New York apartment for fresh air and ocean views after surviving a COVID-19 infection.

She even bought a bright pink bicycle to cruise around Miami with, best friend Rochelle Laufer said.

This photo provided by Dawn Falco shows Linda March, who is still missing in the collapse of a partial building in Surfside, outside Miami.

March rented Penthouse 4, and was using the second bedroom of the furnished apartment as her office, Ms Laufer told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Thursday's partial collapse of the condominium building left the penthouse's interior exposed, with bunk beds and an office chair still intact just inside the broken edge where the rest of the 12-story structure crumbled into a pile of debris.

Another friend, Dawn Falco, said she had been talking on the phone with March until just two hours before the disaster.

Ms Falco said she immediately began searching for word on her friend, who she said never leaves the house "without a smile."

"My heart is breaking as I see the office chair that she just purchased next to the bunkbeds," Ms Falco said.

Florida was a new start for the 58-year-old attorney.

In the past decade, she'd lost her sister and mother to cancer, her father died a few years later and she and her husband divorced. She had no children.

Two men console each other on the beach near the site of the Champlain Towers South condo tower in Florida.

"She would say to me, 'I'm all alone. I don't have family,' and I would say, 'You're my sister, you don't have to be born sisters. And I said you always have me,'" Ms Laufer recounted through tears.

Ms Laufer said Ms March loved the ocean views but hated the incessant noise from nearby construction and had decided to break her lease. "She was looking for another apartment when this happened," Ms Laufer said sadly.

Still, Ms Laufer had been planning to visit her friend this fall.

South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for survivors at the 12-story oceanfront condo in Miami.

"I joked I'm going to take the top bunk when I visit," she said.

READ MORE: How US military's THOR will fry drones out of the sky

THE PATEL FAMILY

The missing include Vishal Patel, his wife, Bhavna, and their one-year-old daughter.

Bhavna Patel is four months pregnant.

Vishal Patel's niece Sarina Patel told KABC-TV that she talked to her uncle on Father's Day, telling him that she had bought a ticket to go see the couple and meet their child. Since the building's collapse, her family has tried texting and calling, but hasn't heard back, she said.

"We're starting to prepare for the negative possibility, especially as the hours pass, but at the end of the day our family is very hopeful," she said.

Pregnant Bhavna Patel and her family are unaccounted for in Miami.

"I just keep praying they have found a pocket somewhere where they were able to seek shelter and just waiting to be found."

Sarina Patel said her aunt and uncle moved into the building two years ago. Her family is desperate for answers, she said.

"If they said they wanted volunteers, I would be on a plane and I would go start helping. Anything to make it go faster," she told KABC. "Miracles do happen," she said.

READ MORE: Families frustrated at slow pace of Miami building collapse rescue

JUDY SPIEGEL

Rachel Spiegel is still waiting for word on her mother, 66-year-old Judy Spiegel, who lived for her family and would go to any length to show her love.

She had been swimming with her two granddaughters this month when one of them remarked how much she wanted a specific Disney princess dress.

Judy Spiegel is missing in the Miami building collapse, and her daughter Rachel is looking for her mum.

The dress was sold out, Rachel said, but the doting grandmother immediately began hunting across several stores until she found it.

"She's very thoughtful, she cared about the details," a tearful Rachel told The Associated Press. "She was certainly the matriarch of our family."

Her daughter joked that Judy was a terrible cook, but whenever anyone came to the house, she knew everyone's favourite foods and quirks and made sure everything was perfectly arranged.

Photos of missing people are posted on a fence near the site of the Champlain Towers South Condo after the building collapsed.

She never went a night without her beloved Ben and Jerry's chocolate ice cream, her daughter said.

She was also a passionate advocate for Holocaust awareness.

"My mom is an incredible person. She has the best heart and we need to find her."

People pray during a prayer vigil for the victims and families of the Champlain Towers collapsed building in Surfside, Florida.

ELAINE SABINO

Elaine Sabino, 70, treated others with the same care and kindness she displayed as a flight attendant for US Airways and JetBlue, her friend said.

"The main thing people know about Elaine is, she's always there to give you a hand in everything you're doing," her friend, Shelly Angle, told the Miami Herald. "She was the ultimate hostess, on the airplane, everywhere."

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Ms Sabino, who was in a penthouse on the 12th floor when the structure collapsed, is still missing.

Ms Angle said her friend was staying active, and was an excellent jazz and belly dancer.

Ms Sabino graduated from the University of Florida, where she was a baton twirler on the Gatorette team. Later, she taught baton twirling and judged national competitions.

She had been complaining about construction on the roof of the condo building, her brother-in-law, Douglas Berdeaux, told The Washington Post.

There has been no determination about what made the building crumble.

"She said she was worried that the ceiling was going to collapse on top of her bed," he said.

CLAUDIO and MARIA OBIAS BONNEFOY

The worried daughters of a Chilean man and his wife who lived on the 10th floor of Champlain Towers South arrived at the scene with growing anger over what they're learning about problems with the building before it collapsed.

Sisters Anne Marie and Pascale Bonnefoy said their father Claudio Bonnefoy and his Filipino-American wife Maria Obias Bonnefoy had been spending little time in the apartment, and probably wouldn't have been among the missing if not for the pandemic.

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Mr Bonnefoy, an 85-year-old lawyer, is the second cousin of former Chilean President and High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and both he and his wife worked for international organisations, they said.

"We are just processing all this but this is starting to make me angry because reports from years ago reporting serious structural damage to the building are little by little being known," said Pascale Bonnefoy.

"Notifications that have been ignored, or even that the building was built on wetlands, that the construction was with sand and that the salt began to corrode the iron."

Leo Soto, who created this memorial with grocery stores donating flowers and candles, pauses in front of photos of some of the missing people that he put on a fence, near the site of an oceanfront condo building that partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida.

RICHARD AUGUSTINE

Richard Augustine, 77, was just hours away from a flight to Chicago, where his daughter, Debbie Hill, had planned to pick him up at the airport.

Instead, she watched video of the condo collapse, and could see her dad's upper-floor unit plummeting, then disappearing in a cloud of dust.

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"That was pretty scary to watch," she told Chicago's ABC7. "Immediately I tried to call him and his phone went straight to voicemail."

Mr Augustine had just visited his son in California, and went back to his Florida home to repack for the weekend visit with his daughter.

Mr Augustine grew up in the Chicago area and lived in the suburbs before moving to Florida, where he worked in the air freight industry and planned to retire in the fall.

Ms Hill told FOX32 in Chicago that her father shared the apartment with a roommate, who also was still missing.

Miami Florida apartment collapse

THE MORA FAMILY

Juan Mora Jr., who works for Morton Salt in Chicago, had been staying with his parents, Juan and Ana Mora, when the building collapsed.

Immigrants from Cuba and devout Catholics, they took their family on missionary trips to the Caribbean to build churches and bridges, said Jeanne Ugarte, a close friend of Ana's.

 Juan Mora, Jr., in Miami. Mora is among those missing in the collapse of a partial building at Champlain Towers South,

Later, they became like second parents to Juan Jr.'s friends in Chicago, where their son has managed East Coast distribution for Morton Salt's road salt business, his friend Matthew Kaade said.

When the Moras came to visit, they would take all of Juan Jr.'s friends out to dinner.

In Florida, they introduced Kaade to Cuban coffee and food, he said. "They were the kind of people that even if someone says 'I'm not hungry,' they would just continue to order food to make sure you had a full belly," he said.

Mr Kaade, who graduated with Mora from Loyala University Chicago in 2011, said he texted this month saying he was planning to return to Chicago in early August.

"I was super excited to get him to come back," said Mr Kaade.

He described Juan Jr., an avid Chicago Cubs fan, as genuine and someone his friends could always rely on "to be real and straight" with them.

No matter what happens, a group of friends will travel down to Florida — hopefully to celebrate with Juan Jr. and his family when they are found — but sure to celebrate him either way, because that's what he would have wanted, Mr Kaade said.

"No matter the outcome, it will be a celebration of his life," he said. "I keep saying your story is not over.

"I have hope that it will be Juan continuing his own story, but no matter what, I'll be there to be one of the many to help carry it on," he said.

STACIE DAWN FANG

Stacie Dawn Fang, 54, was with her son Jonah Handler, a teenager, when the building collapsed. They lived on the tenth floor.

The boy's small hand waved through the wreckage as a man out walking his dog hurried to the site, climbed through a pile of glass and rebar and promised to get help right away.

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Rescuers helped the boy out from under a pile of cement and carried him away on a stretcher to a hospital.

"There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie," members of her family said in a statement.

"Many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time."

Asked about the boy's condition, a family friend, Lisa Mozloom told the AP "He will be fine. He's a miracle."

MANUEL LAFONT

Manuel LaFont, 54, was a proud father, a baseball fan and a business consultant who lived on the building's eighth floor.

He had a 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Adriana LaFont, the Miami Herald reported.

Adriana asked her friends on Facebook to pray the rosary for Manny before his body was found.

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"So many memories inside the walls that are no more today, forever engraved experiences in the heart," she wrote.

Mr LaFont, a Houston native, coached his son's baseball team, the Astros, at North Shore Park, just a mile away from the Champlain. He was a parishioner at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Miami Beach.

The parish's school parents gathered on Saturday afternoon to pray for LaFont and his neighbours who were still missing.

An alumnus of Sharpstown High School in Houston, Mr LaFont had worked across Latin America and the Caribbean for a manufacturing firm, leading a division focusing on roadway safety that built crash cushions and moveable barriers, the Herald reported.

"I got into this industry specifically because I don't want to sell widgets. I want to help people. I want to do something good in this world," he said at an industry conference in 2016.

"When I die, I want to say that my life meant something."

ANTONIO AND GLADYS LOZANO

Antonio and Gladys Lozano lived on the ninth floor. The two had known each other over 60 years and would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on July 21.

Their sons told WPLG-TV that the couple had joked neither wanted to die before the other, because neither wanted to live without the other.

Their one solace, the brothers said, was that they were together when they died.

Authorities confirmed on Saturday that Antonio, 83, and Gladys, 79, were among the dead.

Sergio Lozano said he had dinner with his parents hours before the collapse.

A Miami apartment building has collapsed, with dozens missing.

He lived in one of the towers of the complex and could see his parents' apartment across the way from his. That night, he said the heard a loud noise they thought could be a storm.

"The building is not there," he said he told his wife.

"My parents' apartment is not there. It's gone."

Man in wheelchair 'refused booking at Melbourne restaurant'

A Melbourne man says he was refused a restaurant booking because the war veteran's wheelchair was considered too big for the venue.

Joel Sardi shared his story on social media, saying he had "never been more offended or upset" by the Ginger Garlic staff member's response when he informed them he required a wheelchair.

"I went to book for five people at a restaurant in Eltham ... when I called up they accepted the booking for five people but then I told them I was in a wheelchair, they said 'I'm sorry we can't accept your booking based on the fact you're in a wheelchair,'" he said.

READ MORE: Daniel Andrews returns to work, hits back at 'vile stories'

Mr Sardi said the staff member he spoke to told him "we need the money and your wheelchair will take up too much space".

The Afghanistan war veteran went to the restaurant and spoke to the boss, who reiterated they could not fit Mr Sardi in the venue - while he was in the restaurant itself.

"I looked around the restaurant and there were numerous tables I could have sat at on that night."

"It's 2021, it's Melbourne, we have human rights for this reason so people don't get discriminated against.

READ MORE: Victoria Police won't hesitate to issue $5k fine for border breaches as state records zero local cases

"I have never been more offended or upset based on the fact I was discriminated against because of my disability.

"A pretty low night for me."

The restaurant has been contacted for comment.