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Posted: 2021-04-08 23:31:44

Good morning.

1. Well, Australia’s vaccine programme is now in disarray. Last night, Scott Morrison announced that, due to concerns about rare blood clots with the AstraZeneca shot, the Pfizer vaccine is now preferred over AstraZeneca’s in adults under the age of 50. This is not a prohibition or ban, and the risk is indeed quite low. “This is not a directive,” Morrison said. “This is not an instruction.”

2. It was a bit of an about-face for Morrison. Earlier in the day, he called for “perspective” on the potential links between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and rare blood clotting behaviours. “I think we need to maintain a perspective on these issues, and that’s what I’m sure ATAGI will do over the course of the day,” he said. ATAGI is the very same body that would then go on to recommend the above shift to vaccine strategy, leading to last night’s press conference.

3. It now looks vanishingly unlikely that we’ll hit our October deadline for all Australians being vaccinated. As Rob Harris opines over at The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, if you didn’t think our vaccine programme was a disaster before, it’s hard to deny now. The government is now “reviewing Australia’s vaccine portfolio” as the possibility looms our borders could be shut longer than expected.

4. After all that, National Cabinet meets today. On the agenda will be a ‘rethink’ of the vaccine schedule rollout, and the question of borders. “There will be specific discussions about the reopening of Australia at the national cabinet today,” Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told ABC News this morning.

5. New data indicates couples are increasingly competing with singles in the property market, with the latter group making up almost half of all recent or prospective buyers. A survey from Finder found that 45% of all buyers right now are singles, despite property prices rising sharply. It appears they’re being attracted by rock-bottom interest rates that are helping them buy in otherwise out of reach markets.

6. JobKeeper remained a critical economic lifeline for 372,000 Australian businesses at the end of March, according to new analysis. That includes nearly a quarter of Melbourne-based companies, according to the data from analysts Taylor Fry.

7. Can non-fungible tokens, the new hot thing in the world of crypto and art, actually lead to artists being paid for their work? We spoke to experts and artists about exactly that. While hype and sales are being driven by the tech world, some digital artists who have struggled to make money see NFTs as a means to bypass the contemporary art market and get paid for their work.

8. Zip has unveiled a new business line of credit, offering Australian enterprises up to $150,000 interest-free. The credit amount will incur a 3% fee if the amount isn’t repaid within 60 days or less. It marks a major move into the business market for the buy now, pay later sector as it eyes future growth.

9. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp appear to be experiencing outages for many users this morning. “Sorry, something went wrong,” read the generic Facebook error message seen by many. “We’re working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.” Spokespeople for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on the outage reports.

10. Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama voted on a world-first union drive today. The results are being counted. The ‘No’ vote currently leads, but Amazon has challenged hundreds of ballots and there are somewhat convoluted concerns from the union about a postbox that was installed outside the warehouse by Amazon.

BONUS ITEM

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