LISA MILLAR:
Well Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Professor Alison McMillan, joins us now from Canberra. Alison, good morning. Welcome to Breakfast.
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Thank you, Lisa.
LISA MILLAR:
Why the need for this campaign?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Well, I think that we're all been talking about vaccines now for quite a long time since this pandemic emerged and it's important that we provide, as Government, provide really reliable and accurate information to the- to all Australians so that they are informed about the progress of this vaccine and how they can have confidence that it will be safe and effective through all of the mechanisms we've been talking about. So this campaign, this advertising now is just a part of that phased program of providing the information to everyone who needs it.
LISA MILLAR:
Every day we are learning new things, though, about the vaccine, there are new suggestions, concerns about it going to pregnant women. How do you counter that?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Well, we're- Lisa, we're still waiting for the advice from ATAGI about the use of the Pfizer vaccine for pregnant women and obviously AstraZeneca. This information will develop over time and at the moment, we're always saying to pregnant women, those thinking about getting pregnant or who are breast-feeding for instance, that they're not part of our target group right now but we will make sure we give them the very best information so they can make the right choices about themselves and their baby.
LISA MILLAR:
And what impact does it have when you have a Liberal MP who on his Facebook page, just even this morning, has posted more posts casting doubt on vaccines, the efficacy, the safety of them, you're spending $24 million trying to tell people it's safe and then you've got someone who is in the actual Government suggesting they're not?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Lisa, I'm not going to comment on that, you know that that's not something I'm going to do. I'm going to concentrate on the information I've got confidence in providing that as a registered nurse to the community. And we, in Government, will continue to provide this information in a range of ways so people can be informed and make the right decisions for themselves. What others say is really up to them.
LISA MILLAR:
When do you think we'll get more clarity about how the states are going to deal with the logistics of rolling out the vaccines? I know the Federal Government distributes it, but then it's up to the states to work out where and how and who gets it?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Lisa, we're talking to each other all of the time. Yes, as the Commonwealth Government, we're distributing it and we're leading the in reach program into aged care. So that's work we will do and we will lead.
But every day, we're talking to states and territories about how we're going to make this work. Obviously, a large proportion of these vaccines will be administered by nurses and other health professionals so you can imagine, I'm talking to my colleagues and we're working with all of the states and territories.
So, this is a joined-up program of work and they're working through the logistics about how they're going to meet all of those community needs. But trust me, we are working very closely together on this.
LISA MILLAR:
And what kind of vaccination uptake is the Government hoping for?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
We don't have a target. I think we can be really reassured the uptake we saw of the flu vaccine last year was something we'd never seen those figures before. It was the greatest uptake.
We do know that Australians are great at having vaccines, so we want to get as many of those people we can get vaccinated, vaccinated. Anyone over 18 at this point, of course, is our target. But we haven't got a figure in mind because this will be a staged rollout through a number of periods over the year.
LISA MILLAR:
And Alison, as we're looking at the first vaccines being rolled out towards the end of next month, the Pfizer vaccine, then hopefully, AstraZeneca afterwards in March. What is going to be the biggest challenge?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Oh I think the biggest challenge is, to some extent with Pfizer is, is the logistics and as you- we've already announced, we're working with a range of companies to help us with those logistics.
We are already well on our way to providing training to make sure all of our health professionals have every piece of information they need to deliver the vaccine safely and just making sure that we get confidence in the public about when and how they should be able to access this vaccine.
But at the moment, as you know, we're focused on the priority groups: aged care facilities, staff working in aged care and disability, and healthcare workers.
LISA MILLAR:
Alright. Professor Alison McMillan, thanks for joining us this morning.
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Thanks, Lisa.
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