Australian PM Scott Morrison receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday received COVID-19 vaccination as the country kicked off its mass inoculation drive, ahead of the scheduled date. A World War II survivor and the Morrison are among the first people in Australia to get vaccinated. Wearing an Australian flag-themed face mask, the country’s Prime Minister was seen getting an injection shortly before 11.30 am on February 21 at a medical facility in Castle Hill in Sydney's north-west. Meanwhile, the WWII survivor Jane Malysiak was given the shot seated beside Morrison as the Australian Prime Minister called the event a “historic day for Australia”. Shortly after the inoculation of the 84-year-old WWII survivor, Australia began vaccinating elderly high-risk group home care residents and the disability care staff. 

In his interview with the Australian press following the vaccination, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he wanted to boost public morale to come forward for the immunization. "I have, by my own example today, joined by the Chief Nurse of Midwifery and the Chief Medical Officer of our country, together with those Australians who are in the top priority of this vaccination program, to say to you, Australians, it's safe, it's important,” the Australian PM said in a live-streamed address. Further, he hailed the country’s efforts in starting off the vaccination drive, saying, that the country "made its Australian way” to combat the pandemic, and Greg (Hunt) talked about putting shoulders to the job.” Taking to his official Twitter handle, the Australian PM said: 'These are the 1st Australians to get vaccinated ahead of the rollout getting underway tomorrow. Our first priority is to protect our most vulnerable and frontline workers, who are protecting all of us. Getting vaccinated does just that.’ He shared the photograph of the first group of people to get the jab to encourage civilians.

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Ease of lockdown

Earlier, Australia’s second-largest city Melbourne relaxed its third lockdown after authorities contained the spread of a COVID-19 cluster centered around the country’s quarantine measures. “We’ll finish up with people being able to move freely because this short and sharp circuit-breaker has worked,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said at a press conference. As many as 6.5 million people were confined to their homes after Australia enforced sweeping measures to contain the spread of the new variants of covid-19. Most restrictions were lifted from 11:59 pm last week after no new infection was detected in the latest 24-hour period. However, the state-mandated use of face masks and restricted gathering to about only 5 people until Feb. 26. “I’m not prepared to pretend to the Victorian community that this is over,” Andrews said.

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