Funeral homes ‘run out of room’ as calls for third booster in Australia
New push for millions of Aussies to receive a fifth Covid jab despite health bosses saying only months ago it was not necessary
- Vaccine experts have called for a third booster to be delivered in April
- Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation said no to fifth jab
- Health Minister Mark Butler said he is awaiting advice for winter jab
Millions of Australians may be told to get a fifth Covid jab, despite Anthony Albanese‘s government saying in November it will not be necessary.
Vaccine experts have called for a third booster to be delivered at the same times as the flu jab in April and May, before the virus is expected to be at it’s infection peak.
Professor Robert Booy, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Sydney, said the effectiveness of the last booster shot the elderly and immunocompromised had six months ago is now ‘wearing off’.
I think it’s pretty straightforward, to be honest. We’ve got winter coming. We’ve got waning immunity against Omicron,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘We’ve got vulnerable people who haven’t had a booster for six months and a minimum once a year booster is appropriate at the moment that could be delivered in April May at the same time as flu jabs are being rolled out,’ he said.
Of course it’s staff shortages! LOL. Couldn’t possibly have anything to do with excess deaths, could it?
Funeral homes ‘run out of room’ for deceased amid staff shortages
Funeral directors are warning that some have “run out of room” for bodies because of COVID-related staff shortages at crematoriums and cemeteries.
Key points:
- The Australian Funeral Directors Association says the Queensland government should classify funeral staff as critical workers
- Close contact requirements are putting strain on all areas of funeral industry staffing
- A Gold Coast business says some funeral homes and crematoriums are at capacity
Rowan Steer, manager of Integrity Funerals on the Gold Coast, said businesses were being forced to move bodies into the care of competitors as staff isolated, forcing families to wait up to two weeks for funeral services.
Mr Steer said close contact isolation requirements and a lack of accessible rapid tests were causing the industry “a high level of stress”.
The industry is asking for changes to their isolation rules for funeral, mortuary, crematorium, and cemetery services.
The Australian Funeral Directors Association (AFDA) is calling for the Queensland government to “urgently” classify them as critical workers
