NRL ticket giveaway for Qld vaccine first doses back on after TGA backflip

Free NRL finals tickets are still up for grabs for Queenslanders who get vaccinated following a confusing day of red tape, recriminations, and rule changes.

A joint Queensland government and NRL initiative to give vaccinated footy fans 3000 free double passes to Friday and Saturday’s finals series appeared to hit a brick wall on Thursday, when the Therapeutic Goods Administration advised the giveaway was not within the rules.

The regulator told the NRL it could only give tickets to people who had received their second dose – and not just their first – prompting a furious response from the state’s health Minister.

“This is bureaucracy gone mad,” Yvette D’Ath said in a snap press conference.

She called for Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to “fix this, fix this now”.

But the situation was quickly smoothed out after the national regulator changed its rules around offering incentives for jabs.

The TGA’s updated guidelines – updated on Friday following reported intervention by the federal government – now allow anyone who has had their first shot to receive incentives.

This means the 2000 double passes for Friday’s game at Suncorp Stadium between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles will be honoured.

Another 1000 double passes will be given away on Friday at the Logan Entertainment Centre and Mount Warren Park vaccination hubs for hubs for the match between the Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers on Saturday.

Earlier this year a Melbourne pub was reprimanded by the TGA for offering free beer to patrons getting their first dose of the vaccine, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison critical of the situation.