Only four per cent of the 23,000 people with disability in residential care have had a Covid vaccine, a Royal Commission heard today. The figures from May 6 show only 205 people have had a jab in the last two weeks. The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability is hearing evidence about problems with the vaccine rollout. Counsel assisting Kate Eastman said that the government rollout of vaccines to people with disability in residential care "has been an abject failure."
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Some politicians and business leaders are calling for borders to reopen sooner than planned. But PM Scott Morrison has refused to reveal the benchmarks needed to open up fortress Australia. A group of Liberal MPs also want vaccinated Australians to be given a greater opportunity to travel overseas. The slow progress of Australia's vaccine rollout across the wider population makes that argument a moot point.
The danger abroad is still high with confirmation that a returned traveller from India has tested positive. Half of the passengers were unable to leave India because they or a close contact had tested positive. The flight was the first to land in Australia from India since the federal government implemented a travel ban and tighter pre-departure restrictions several weeks ago.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers will rage on. The Israeli military said its planes bombed the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to two million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas' devastating 2014 war.
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