BEN FORDHAM:
Now, we know that the road out of lockdown is involving COVID vaccines - the vast majority of people in hospital at the moment are unvaccinated. A small portion have had their first dose. Five people who are fully vaccinated are in hospital, and those are residents of an aged care home, they're in hospital as a precaution. And that brings us to the state of the rollout. The New York Times has got a global vaccine tracker, keeping tabs of the rollout all over the world. Australia is last in the OECD. And while the rest of the world opens up, we are shutting down. And one of the main differences is because they're vaccinated and we're not. Lieutenant-General John Frewen, he's the Coordinator General of Australia's vaccine rollout and he's on the line. Good morning to you, Lieutenant-General.
JOHN FREWEN:
Gidday, Ben. Good to talk to you.
BEN FORDHAM:
Nice to talk to you. Can you confirm the latest numbers? Because we understand that we've got some fresh ones out this morning
JOHN FREWEN:
Ben, I can speak to the vaccine rollout. Do you mean vaccine rollout numbers?
BEN FORDHAM:
Yeah, we're told this morning, and I was just looking for some confirmation, that 11.1 per cent of over sixteen year olds are now fully vaccinated. Is that the case?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, sure. So we've, we've had more than nine million doses administered across the nation - 6.7 million people in Australia had the first dose, that's almost 33 per cent, a third of the population now. And yes, we've had 2.3 million Australians who are now fully vaccinated, which is over 11 per cent.
BEN FORDHAM:
Okay, so 11 per cent fully vaccinated, 32.81 per cent have had one dose. Now, you've been given a difficult job - you didn't start all of this, but you've got the job of trying to pick up the pace a little bit. How are we going to do it?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. So there's, there's three key ways, Ben. The first is supply, and we've had some good news last week about the bringing forward of some of the Pfizer supplies that we were anticipating later in the year. So in the last couple of weeks we were getting around about 300,000 doses of Pfizer a week, that's going to go up to a million doses a week through the latter part of this month and through next month, which is really positive.
The next thing is our ability to both distribute and administer the vaccines, and we're- last week we brought on 500 additional GP's, there'll be another 500 GPs coming on who could administer Pfizer over the course of the next week, and then there's another 300 towards the end of the week. But we're also looking at other options around pharmacists and mass vaccination clinics. So that will give us additional capacity to, to get the vaccines rolling.
And then really it's about getting the public motivated, and that's what our Arm Yourself campaign yesterday was about, is now telling people vaccination's important for you, but also for your friends and your families and your communities. So we need people to get out there and arm themselves against this virus.
BEN FORDHAM:
You mentioned briefly chemists, there's no supply issue with AstraZeneca. So pharmacies are saying we've got 1000 pharmacies already approved by the feds to administer the vaccine, they're waiting to be turned on by each state. So far, only a handful in remote areas have been activated. Isn't it crazy that these pharmacies are ready to roll, but they're unable to do so?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. Look, it's been- up until now it's been about managing available supply and not wanting to, to spread it too thin. So what we've done at the moment is we've been working around GP's and state hubs in the first instance, then we've been bringing on pharmacists in- particularly in remote and regional areas where there wasn't perhaps the same access to a GP or one of the state clinics. But now as we get additional vaccines available we're absolutely looking at bringing on pharmacists. And I've been working over the weekend with New South Wales authorities about options to bring forward pharmacists in the way you've described.
BEN FORDHAM:
There's criticism of a TV ad that shows a woman who appears to be in her mid 30s who's struggling to breathe in hospital, and the ad ends with the line go and get vaccinated. But at the moment, she wouldn't be eligible if she's in her mid 30s. When can people under 40 expect to be eligible?
JOHN FREWEN:
Well, people under 40 right now can go to their GPs and, with informed consent, get access to AstraZeneca. So, I mean, that is a confronting ad - it's been very specifically targeted in Sydney now because of the concerning circumstances that you're facing there. But those people between 18 and 40 need to make a decision now about whether they want to take their chances with the Delta virus or whether they want to get down, have a discussion with their GPs, and get AstraZeneca.
BEN FORDHAM:
And when it comes to Pfizer or Moderna, it'll be a few months away until they can get it?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, at the moment, it's still September, October, till we really ramp up in a far more significant way with those ones. But we will- we'll be bringing in additional age groups as we can to offer more choice. But for now, AstraZeneca has been our workhorse and will remain our workhorse. And I certainly encourage anyone to get down and make an informed choice - balancing the risk against the medical advice.
BEN FORDHAM:
We're talking to the Coordinator General of Australia's vaccine rollout, Lieutenant-General John Frewen. Have you noticed that there are a lot of sectors who are saying, what about us? I had a call earlier today from a schoolteacher saying, how come we're not receiving some kind of priority when it comes to the vaccine? Other people who do officially or unofficially work on the front lines, so to speak? Why are these people still waiting?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. So look, we, we've really got to focus on the greatest health risk categories at the moment - that still really is the over 60, so I encourage anybody who's over 60 who either hasn't yet had a vaccine or who's got a second dose pending to, to get out there and get that done as soon as you can. Again, in terms of dose durations, that's an important discussion to be had with your health practitioner about which duration you want.
But we will, we will be bringing on, you know, additional priority as the vaccine rolls on. But right now, we're worried most about the over 60s, particularly people in aged care facilities and those who work in aged care facilities. And, of course, all of our frontline health workers who've done such an amazing job through this whole thing.
BEN FORDHAM:
I'm not aware of your age, Lieutenant-General, but I'm guessing you would have had either one or two jabs already?
JOHN FREWEN:
I had first dose AstraZeneca, and I'm seeking to have my second dose brought forward this week if I can.
BEN FORDHAM:
And I'm guessing you just want to get a message out there that help is on the way? It has been slow so far, but it's about to speed up?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yep. We'll be accelerating this in any way we can, Ben. And there is- there are vaccines available right now in terms of AstraZeneca. We've got more Pfizer, more Pfizer coming. But, you know, this is a very serious challenge. We're working really hard to, to get it done as quickly as we can. And I encourage all Australians to please get out and get vaccinated.
BEN FORDHAM:
We appreciate the opportunity to talk to you. Let's do it again. Thanks for your time.
JOHN FREWEN:
Thanks, Ben. Good to talk to you.
BEN FORDHAM:
Lieutenant-General John Frewen.
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