TOM ELLIOTT:
Well, now for a bit of good news, the Federal Health Minister announced today that he had secured an extra 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. He joins us on the line right now. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, good afternoon.
GREG HUNT:
And good afternoon Tom.
TOM ELLIOTT:
So how many doses and of which vaccines do we now definitely have?
GREG HUNT:
So, we have 150 million doses, and that includes 20 million of the Pfizer, what’s called an mRNA type vaccine. We have 53.8 million AstraZeneca, that’s a viral vector vaccine. And of those, 50 million will be produced in Melbourne which gives us immense certainty of Australian-made supply.
We then have 51 million units of what's called Novavax, which is a protein vaccine. And then finally, we'll have access to 25.5 million units of a range of vaccines to be provided by an international facility called the COVAX facility.
TOM ELLIOTT:
So, I know that a lot of these vaccines that you’ve got to get two jabs, not one, but given there’s only 26 million Australians, that should be enough to go around the for the next year or so?
GREG HUNT:
Yes, absolutely. So, we've got effectively enough to vaccinate every Australian three times, which is one of the highest rates in the world. We've done that as insurance because you don't know all of the things that are going to occur during the course of the pandemic.
But you do know things will occur. And so, that's why we've done that preparation, and in particular that sovereign vaccine manufacturing capability here in Australia, here in Melbourne, that's what's so important for safety and security of supply for Australia, to get us all vaccinated, every Australian that seeks to be vaccinated by the end of March- the end of October.
TOM ELLIOTT:
End of October. So, should we be perhaps less concerned about this latest outbreak, given that in the next few months most of us will get vaccinated?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think the important thing is we have to remain vigilant, but keep everything in perspective. We've had one case of community transmission today, Australia-wide. That case, obviously in Melbourne.
The world has had approximately 440,000 cases. We've had no lives lost in Australia during the course of 2021; the world's had 400,000 lives lost to COVID. And so, the world just looks at Australia and says, that's incredible. You're doing an amazing job. And to keep that into perspective and to realise that we know how to deal with these cases and, you know, our system is keeping us safe and keeping people alive in Australia, and that's really one of our most important achievements as a nation in the last 50 years.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Obviously, those of us- and you’re a Melburnian too, those of us who lived through the lockdown last year, more than anything else, do not want to see that experience repeated. Are you confident that despite this latest outbreak, we will not need to go back into lockdown again here in Melbourne?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I do think that the Victorian system is dramatically improved and that we had Professor Alan Finkel, the former chief scientist, go in, look at the contact tracing system in Victoria, work on the structures.
We had the Australian Defence Force helping the Victorian Government and improved it. So, I think their testing and tracing is very, very significantly improved, and Victorians know how to do the right thing. Victorians are really incredibly responsible.
So, I am confident that they’ll get on top of this case. You can never make a false promise, but the early signs are that the testing, the tracking down of the contacts is going very well. And I understand that Victorians have turned out in very, very large numbers to be tested today, and I’m thankful for that.
TOM ELLIOTT:
They have. Now, what about hotel quarantine? I mean, there's a lot of people- there’s a member of the Victorian Parliament, Clifford Hayes from the Sustainable Australia Party, who says that we need to end hotel quarantine in the middle of the city. Is it not time, maybe, if we have to still have people coming from overseas, having quarantine well away from any major population centres?
GREG HUNT:
Well, the thing you have to be careful of is, of course, the workforce would be fly in, fly out, and you would have- or drive in, drive out. You’d have a large number of people travelling enormous distances and- we’re open (inaudible).
Hotel quarantine of course has seen 211,000 people return home to Australia. People for births, people to say goodbye to loved ones in palliative care.
To bring Australians home is absolutely critical. It's a system which, of course, has provided enormous protection to Australians. It's prevented thousands and thousands of cases from entering Australia.
And so, everything needs to be kept in perspective that where improvements can be made- then again, we've had Professor Finkel and Jane Halton looking across the states at the way they’re performing, and that advice continuously going to them.
We've made changes with regards to what the states are doing. So, I'm not critical of the fact that- the case in Victoria today. When you are bringing home 200,000 people, there will be cases. And anybody who pretends that there won't be, I don't think is being responsible to the public. But the fact that we can manage it, that’s what I think provides real confidence.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Okay. Final question. Going back to vaccines, which is the real reason we wanted to get you on today. So, we've got 150 odd million doses of at least three different vaccines; enough, as you say, to vaccinate every Australian three times over.
Now, I know that the priority will be aged care workers and people in aged care facilities, health care workers, possibly childcare workers. When does someone- well, someone like me, for example, who isn't in one of those sort of important categories – I’m just an average person – when can an average person expect to get vaccinated? Like, would it be in April or May?
GREG HUNT:
So, the first phase is exactly as you say, those who are on our borders, our frontline health workers and our aged care and disability care residents and workers. Then we have the over 80s and over 70s in what’s known as Phase 1B.
We have people who have immune compromised conditions and Indigenous Australians over the age of 55. Then we have people over the age of 60 and over the age of 50. I hesitate to say it Tom, but (inaudible) fall into that category.
TOM ELLIOTT:
That’s me.
GREG HUNT:
That would be Phase 2A. And then the under 50s population in Phase 2B.
TOM ELLIOTT:
And when is this? When does Phase 2A and 2B roll out?
GREG HUNT:
So, we want everything done by October – we’ll set the dates for each of those phases as we have confirmation on the supply chain volume. So, we're being cautious.
But the first vaccines are expected – and I’ve confirmed this with the companies just this morning – to begin late February for Pfizer, and early March for AstraZeneca subject to the approval of our medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Thank you so much for your time. Greg Hunt, the Federal Health Minister.