Scott Morrison's reset on AstraZeneca shows a growing acceptance young people are needed to bolster Australia's COVID-19 defences.
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NSW's lockdown will last another four weeks, each costing an estimated $750 million in Commonwealth support, with vaccinations looking the only route out of limbo.
The Prime Minister, confronted by a deepening political and health crisis, is scrambling to revive confidence in the maligned jab.
"[It] is a safe vaccine, an effective vaccine. It has saved lives all around the world," he insisted on Wednesday.
"I encourage people to take the initiative, use the informed consent ... and get it."
It was a far cry from downcast press conferences in April and June, when ATAGI seemingly ruled out AstraZeneca for younger Australians.
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The escalating situation in NSW has forced a rethink from ATAGI, which has told all adult residents to get any vaccine available to them.
Mr Morrison, once beholden to the most conservative interpretation of medical advice, has suddenly begun hammering that point, even revealing demands for ATAGI to revise its thinking.
Idle AstraZeneca doses and an eager, unvaccinated demographic have proved an opportunity.
And as Gladys Berejiklian struggled to explain why an extended lockdown will turn the tide, Mr Morrison argued AstraZeneca could help render them a "thing of the past".
"When countries do reach that much higher vaccination rate, that gives their governments a lot more options ... [AstraZeneca] is there and that gets us to our goal a lot faster," he said.
"It's not a race" is also shifting. It's now a race once the Doherty Institute, tasked with adding detail to Australia's vague reopening timeline, draws the finish line.
"[We'll] make a gold medal run all the way to the end of this year," Mr Morrison said.
A June survey from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found travel returning was a major motivator for getting vaccinated for a quarter of Australians.
Cue another carrot: AstraZeneca touted as the best way to reach the international departure gate.
"It is the most recognised vaccine in the world, by all countries, particularly when they are looking at people travelling. It is more recognised even than Pfizer," he said.
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