Dawn chorus: Australia's AstraZeneca problem

Intense political pressure on Morrison as Australia's AstraZeneca-dependent vaccine rollout is way behind schedule; Also, UK regulator confirms AstraZeneca link to rare blood clot

TLDR: New Zealand’s vaccine rollout is already behind schedule, but the bigger concern may our new ‘bubble’ partner’s problems getting its own rollout going, and convincing Australians to take it after Britain’s regulator said overnight it shouldn’t be given to young people because of the very rare risk of blood clots.

Australia is relying on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which it is trying to import from Europe and make at CSL’s Melbourne labs, but it’s struggling with getting EU permissions to import. and now there’s growing evidence of a link to a very rare blood clot condition.

Overnight, the British regulator abruptly changed its guidance on the vaccine to say that people aged 18-29 should be offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as the European Medicines Agency said it had established a link between rare blood clots in the brain and the AstraZeneca jab. However, both regulators said the condition was extremely rare and the benefits outweighed the risks. Just 79 people reported clots after 20.2m jabs given in Britain.

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Scoops and news breaking this morning

BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking

Under-30s in UK to be offered alternative to Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine due to rare blood clot risk

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Reuters @Reuters

EU and UK regulators still recommend AstraZeneca shot despite possible link to blood clots reut.rs/2Rhmtgo

The Guardian @guardian

AstraZeneca jab ‘course correction’ could dent confidence far beyond UK

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Briefly in our political economy

RNZ @radionz

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Newshub @NewshubNZ

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Miriyana Alexander @miriyananz

Excellent analysis here from @nzherald data journalist Chris McDowall. Covid 19 coronavirus: Why is the Govt not sharing vaccination data? -

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In the global political economy

Samantha Maiden @samanthamaiden

Scott Morrison drops big clue on future risks to COVID vaccine rollout in today’s presser ⁦@newscomauHQ⁩

news.com.auPM hints blood clot issue could stall vaccine rolloutScott Morrison hints blood clot issue could stall Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout

CNBC Now @CNBCnow

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Samantha Maiden @samanthamaiden

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BBC News (World) @BBCWorld

Amazon's Jeff Bezos backs tax rise on companies

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Axios @axios

IMF fiscal chief Vitor Gaspar called for an additional tax on high-earning individuals and companies that remained stable through the pandemic, saying it would show solidarity with those who struggled.

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Sign o’ the times news

BBC Business @BBCBusiness

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Conor Hill @Infauxllectual

Auckland Labour party politician opposes new housing:

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Chart of the day

Sharon Zollner @sharon_zollner

The @ANZ_NZ World Commodity Price Index shot to record levels in March, primarily driven by the recent strength in dairy prices. bit.ly/ANZ-CPI-202104…

Other notable views

Greg McKenna @gregorymckenna

Ouch 👇 “The decades-long unspoken pact between the government of the day & RBA – we won’t raise rates during a recession or comment critically on sensitive areas of government policy & you leave us to our own devices – is a cancer on our democracy...” smh.com.au/politics/feder…

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Threads worth unravelling

Zeke Hausfather @hausfath

In a new analysis, we find there are now 32 countries that have absolutely decoupled economic growth from CO2 since 2005. In these places both territorial emissions and consumption emissions (which include CO2 imported in goods) are falling. thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/… A thread: 1/21

Some fun things

Reuters @Reuters

Chocolatier Jan Hansen has created a ‘choco-copter’ in support of air ambulance workers in Folkingham, England

Dawn rose today in Wellington at 6.43 am. It rises tomorrow at 6.45 am.