NEIL MITCHELL:
On the line is the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, and the Member for Flinders in the Mornington Peninsula. Good morning.
GREG HUNT:
And good morning, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Are you where you've got problems on the Mornington Peninsula? Quite a few cases which are not being reported by the state government are surfacing in testing. In fact, there were eight in one clinic over the past week.
GREG HUNT:
I am aware that there are reports of this, but unfortunately, they are not being reported by the state. So, I'll be writing to them today to ask them to ensure that there is full public reporting so as people are given all the details, they’re able to take all the precautions, and they're able to protect themselves.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Good. The national figures, what have you got?
GREG HUNT:
So, 138,000 yesterday and that takes us to 28.75 million. But significantly, we're right on the cusp of 80 per cent first doses; so, 79.4 per cent.
What's really heartening is over the last two weeks, we've had the two highest weeks in the course of the pandemic and, and that's even at, you know, nearly 80 per cent, it's just continued to power along. So, Victorians, Australians have done a fantastic job in coming forwards.
NEIL MITCHELL:
When are we looking at 80 per cent double vaccinated? What's your latest date?
GREG HUNT:
Look, we're not putting a particular date on it because we're able to see that time shorten for second vaccinations. Victoria, we've encouraged them to do that, they've done that now.
But you know, we've been aiming to ensure that every Australian would have the opportunity to be vaccinated twice before the end of October, the vaccines are in the country to enable that to happen.
So, you know, recently people have been talking about the end of the year, it will be well before the end of the year, and it's likely to be well before the end of November that we reach those milestones.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I was, I was just, I'm sorry to hurry you, I know you need to get away to an important meeting.
GREG HUNT:
That’s all right.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But I, I was just talking to a GP who runs the respiratory clinic in Rosebud and one at Seaford, and she, she told me that they just can't get enough Pfizer. She says: they're bringing the dosage down from six, six- second dose from six weeks to three weeks, and they’ve got nowhere near enough - they could use ten times more, effectively.
What can we do about that?
GREG HUNT:
Well, we're happy to work with them. Australia’s 79.6 per cent, first dose, Victoria's 82 per cent and the Mornington Peninsula because it's one of the oldest populations, not just in Victoria, but Australia is 88.6 per cent.
So, and there are over 30 different Commonwealth points of presence on the Peninsula for people to get vaccinated. But we'll work with that clinic to see what the circumstances are.
It is actually a Commonwealth vaccination clinic, so it's been very well, well supplied as the principal point of vaccination in the Peninsula.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, it hasn’t. They, they had a thousand calls the other day and they couldn't give any of them appointments. At Seaford they've got 300 vaccines a week coming in, they need 3,000. At Rosebud they've got 1,500 and they need double that.
GREG HUNT:
Well, as I would say, it’s one of the highest rates in Victoria at 88.6 per cent. So, I'm happy to check that today. I wasn't aware last week of having been approached by them when I saw that in the media.
But as I say, there's enough vaccine for every Australian to be vaccinated during October. This week, for example, there'll be over 2.8 million vaccines available around the country. So, the specific clinic, very happy for us to speak with them and we’ll do that.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Good. Thank you. But when you say has enough vaccine, does that mean there's enough Pfizer, if that's what you want? Or is there enough AstraZeneca combined? Is there enough Pfizer out there to do the job?
GREG HUNT:
Yes. Pfizer and Moderna together. So Moderna is the other mRNA vaccine that's available, both of those vaccines are available to everybody at 12 plus across the Commonwealth clinics which is GPs, Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics, and pharmacies right across Victoria. And what that means is that there's the opportunity for everybody to be able to be vaccinated.
I know just as a, as a dad, my 12-year-old last week, we went online for him. He’s come due as part of his group and we were able to get a vaccination just through the ordinary processes very quickly on the Peninsula.
My daughter, who's 16, is due for her second Pfizer, and with the shortening of time, was able to get on the health.gov.au, the Commonwealth eligibility checker last week and book in for this week.
NEIL MITCHELL:
What sort of uptake, are you getting any reports yet on the uptake of Moderna and the pharmacies?
GREG HUNT:
Yes, so we’ve had very high uptake. As of yesterday, there were about 161,000 Moderna vaccines that had been administered.
You know, as a family, that’s where we took our 12-year-old, just down to the local pharmacy. And John Paul, the local pharmacist in Mount Martha, he was fantastic. He was doing 75 vaccinations himself on Friday, and we're seeing, you know, very high numbers in pharmacies.
They were, again, as of yesterday, about 884,000 around the country, all up vaccinations they've delivered with Moderna, they said, really going out the door. And it's a great global vaccine and we're very privileged to be able to have it.
NEIL MITCHELL:
And what about Novavax? When does that arrive?
GREG HUNT:
So Novavax around the world, it's finishing off its clinical trials. Our guidance is that our first supplies are likely to be November but they haven't been confirmed and they haven't registered in any country or commenced distribution.
But the latest guidance from my discussions on the weekend with the company were still November, but we're waiting for them to complete their trials and their registrations around the world.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So we only got 51 million on order. Okay, well, that's a good thing. Now what about this pill that Merck & Co. is talking about and there's been some review or some release on that in the United States - Molnupiravir I think it's called. I'm probably pronouncing it incorrectly.
GREG HUNT:
No, I think you've done a pretty good job. Molnu is the simple way to pronounce it. So Molnu is a new treatment. It's one of a number we're sort of in very advanced discussions on.
We've just had new supplies of a drug called Sotrovimab arrive over the last few days, 15,000 units of that, which is helping to protect people with hospital treatment.
Molnu is a pill. And there was very good clinical trial data. I was speaking with the Australian CEO on Thursday, Friday and Saturday about this. I'll just put it this way, we're very well placed and in advanced discussions with them, and I'd say, stay tuned to hear more on that one.
NEIL MITCHELL:
It's a fair way off, though, before it's got approval and it's not even peer reviewed as yet, is it?
GREG HUNT:
So again, very good clinical trial results, and if it were available, we would hope that it could be brought forward to the first half of next year, if not, if not earlier. So it's not yet even to the first quarter of next year.
But as you say, these medicines have to be shown to be safe and effective, both of those things and we're deeply engaged in, not just looking at that medicine, but a number of others.
So what does it all mean? For people it means the vaccinations and the treatments all help provide safety, and they all bring us closer to reopening and the national plan.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Good. Just finally and on compulsory vaccination. You're well aware what's been decided here in Victoria for essential workers. We'll talk about that more length later, but what's your view of some sort of tax on the unvaccinated? That's been floated today. So a bit like a Medicare levy, if you're not vaccinated, you get an additional tax to help keep the health system going.
GREG HUNT:
Well, it's not something that we're proposing and it's not something that we've been considering. So I'll just put it that way.
More generally, the best reason to be vaccinated is it can save your life. You know, we see that from the numbers in hospital. If you haven't been vaccinated yet and you know, we're at 82 per cent of Victorians that have had a first dose. This can save your life, and the evidence is in Victoria, Australia, globally, that's the best reason. To protect your family, your friends, and then to help us get back our way of life.
Those are the reasons to be vaccinated and we want everybody to come forward. You know, for example, we're 99.3 per cent of aged care workers. They've been magnificent. We've worked with them and that's saving lives and protecting lives in our aged care homes.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Just a little analogy, a mate who’s a surgeon gave me at the weekend. He said WWII you'd have aircraft flying over villages and would bomb them if they could. So everybody put up blackout curtains and didn't have their lights on. If one building didn't use the blackout curtains, the whole village could go up. And he said that's the same thing with the vaccine.
GREG HUNT:
Well, every single person who is vaccinated doesn't just protect themselves, they help protect everyone around them. And it's one of these things that each of us can do. I remember very early on in the rollout, there was an older gentleman, an artist who said, you know, it's one of the few times I can do something to protect everybody else that I know. And I thought that that was a really nice analogy.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for talking to us. Greg Hunt Federal Health Minister.