DAVID KOSH:
Australia has had a record day with almost 280,000 people rolling up their sleeves, at an extraordinary rate of around 200 jabs a minute.
GREG HUNT:
279,465 Australians were vaccinated. We believe that's the highest number, not just during the COVID vaccination program, but at any point in Australia's history.
DAVID KOSH:
That means over 48 per cent of Aussies have now had their first shot, and at this rate 70 per cent of adults will be fully vaccinated by November 6th, with the country set to be 80 per cent vaccinated by November 24. It comes amid a vaccination blitz in Sydney's hotspot suburbs with half a million Pfizer jabs touching down overnight.
For more, I'm joined by the head of the National COVID Vaccine Taskforce, Lieutenant General John Frewen. John, you'd be pleased with how the country is tracking on this vaccine rollout, a record day yesterday.
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, this is great news Kochie. We have been getting record days just about every day consistently now and this is all about people in Australia being prepared to turn up and get jabs. So, really encouraging, and I continue to encourage people to get those bookings done and get in and get jabbed.
DAVID KOSH:
Yeah, because there are more areas available, isn't it? I notice our pharmacy downstairs here at Sunrise has started giving jabs as well. That's got everyone excited here at Seven. So, even though you've booked somewhere else and maybe waiting, check with your pharmacy now, you could get it earlier.
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, absolutely. Look, the pharmacists are playing a fantastic role now. We've bought (*) almost 2500 pharmacies into play over the last fortnight. This is another contributing factor to how we're managing to accelerate these numbers. But [audio skip] ready now, they've got AstraZeneca. In due course, they'll also have Moderna, but for now they're focused on the AstraZeneca. But this is another great way for people to get vaccinated.
DAVID KOSH:
Yeah. So, you don't need to wait as long as the website tells you often. Now, from tomorrow, 16 to 39 year old’s in the twelve LGAs of concern across Sydney will have priority access to the Pfizer vaccine. What difference will this make?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, so look, we really welcome the news of that additional million doses from Europe that the Government secured. Half of that is going into those affected LGAs in Sydney, and really this is designed to try and make a difference through vaccinating those high transmissibility groups, the 16 to 39. So, of course, vaccines take a couple of weeks to kick in, but it's going to take weeks now to try and get that situation back under control, so this is another arm of the strategy to help do that.
DAVID KOSH:
Yep, sounds like we've got enough. Lieutenant General, thanks for joining us.
JOHN FREWEN:
Thanks Kochie.