PETER STEFANOVIC:
A new advertising campaign to convince people to take up the COVID-19 vaccine is being planned and almost underway. Joining me now is Australia’s Chief Nursing Officer, Alison McMillan. Alison, good to see you. Thanks for your time this morning. So, as I mentioned, it is designed to basically tell people that it is okay, to assuage any concerns. It’s not going to convince everyone though, is it?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
No, it’s never going to convince everyone, Peter, but we’re concentration on providing clear, accurate information to everyone so that they can make the best choice for themselves.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So, based- so, just elaborate on that information – what are you saying?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
We’re saying that we’re commencing the roll out – you’ve already heard this – the roll out of, initially, the Pfizer vaccine; and in coming weeks if the TGA approve the AstraZeneca, we’ll be rolling that out as well. So, right now we’re concentrating on using the Pfizer vaccine for the most vulnerable in our population - so those in aged care facilities, aged care workers, disability workers, health care workers and people working at the front line – that’s where we’re going to target. And over time, as the program rolls out, we’ll tell a broader part- portion of the community about when and where they can expect to get access to the vaccine.
We’re providing the best information that we have at this point in time so that everyone’s kept informed and can have confidence in all the mechanisms in Australia we have to make sure vaccines are safe and effective.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Is it safe and effective for elderly people?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Yes, well, that’s what ATAGI and the TGA have approved for the Pfizer vaccine. They’re still going through the data for the AstraZeneca and, in time when they’ve got full confidence, then they will provide us the advice about how and when we should work with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Right now, Pfizer has been approved, as you know, on Monday; and, we’re working really hard to get that as soon as we can.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
And what sort of concerns do you have about the AstraZeneca one?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
I don’t have any, any concerns about the AstraZeneca. I’ve got real confidence in the work that we have- the systems we’ve had in place for safe vaccine programs in Australia for such a long time. And so the advice we’re provided will tell me about when and how I, and everyone else, can get this vaccine when it becomes available to people, for instance, in my age group.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. What about pregnant women?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Pregnant women? So, we don’t have the advice from ATAGI yet around the use of the vaccines in pregnancy and, obviously, in breast feeding as well – so at the moment we’re still waiting for that. They’re looking at all of the data available to us to make sure that this vaccine is safe to be used in pregnancy. But we know that pregnant women have- we’ve not seen major aspects of illness in pregnant women, but we’re going to wait for that advice and we’ll make sure women get the best available advice.
If you're worried at all, talk to your health professional now about your options, about keeping your pregnancy safe.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yeah. So I mean, if you had any concerns about that, obviously, you would be- you'd be encouraging pregnant women not to take it.
ALISON MCMILLAN:
I'm not going to speculate. I'm going to say that until we get the advice [audio skip] we'll wait to see what it is and then we'll provide the advice. I don't know yet whether it will recommend or not recommend, so I'm not going to speculate on that.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
[Talks over] Okay.
ALISON MCMILLAN:
I'm going to wait until we get all of the information.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
In terms of an overall take up of the vaccine, what's the target? What's the number or the percentage that you have in mind?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Okay. So we don't have a percentage. We know our focus is all Australians, in fact, everyone in Australia over 18. It's important for me to emphasise that this vaccine is available to everyone. It will be free. It doesn't matter whether you- what status you are, whether you're a visitor, whether you're an Australian, whether you're anything at all. This vaccine will be available to everyone here in Australia - over 18’s our focus at the moment - and we're going to continue to encourage people to take it up.
We’re going to focus on the vulnerable first and then roll it out after that. But we want everyone to get it if we can [audio skip] because that will bring us the protection we need as a population.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yeah. I know you don't want to put a figure, but I mean, 70 per cent, you've got to achieve for herd immunity. Is that about the benchmark? You want to at least hit that?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Herd immunity’s not our focus right now. Right now, with this vaccine, that's protecting the most vulnerable. We know these vaccines do prevent severe disease and death. As yet we're not so, we're not so sure about its effect on transmission - we will get that over time. But at the moment, herd immunity is not our focus - it is protecting the most vulnerable, therefore the programme begins with that.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
There have been some vaccine delays that have been threatened in Europe. Do you have any concerns about that, Alison?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
I don't. I think that we- we’re were expecting our 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the coming weeks - we know that that's part of what we've secured. The great thing for all Australians to know and understand is we're actually manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine here in Australia. So we'll have 50 million doses available to us, made here in Victoria in Broadmeadows, which is a great security for us into the future.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So you don't have any concerns at this stage when it comes to vaccines, in particular, the Pfizer jab? There'll be no delays here at this stage?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
At this stage. I rely on the advice like everybody else does, and at this stage we're still working - it was approved on Monday, as you know - working through that batch testing, getting, getting it to all of the hubs - that's all on track for now. Obviously, there'll be some variations in time, but we're still looking at the rollout as planned.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yeah, I mean, things can always change, though, can't they?
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Yeah, they can. This is a complex - this is something that, you know, that we're undertaking with a great deal of commitment. But you know, the timing, we're not giving a date quite yet because there are a number of steps we need to complete to get this vaccine into the country and get it to the places where it's needed.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Alison McMillan, thanks for your time this morning. Talk to you soon.
ALISON MCMILLAN:
Thank you. Bye.
Contact
