ISKHANDAR RAZAK: Let's get more on the vaccine rollout, with children 5 to 11 now being able to get their first dose of the COVID vaccine. We're joined by the Vaccine Taskforce Commander, the man in charge, Lieutenant General John Frewen, from Canberra. Good morning, thanks for your time. Sadly, we keep on hearing of booking problems, bookings being cancelled, delays and also the New South Wales Teachers Foundation says there are just serious gaps emerging and they've said, quote: a monumental failure. Why is that happening and how do you respond to that?
JOHN FREWEN: Look, today's an important day in the rollout, Isk. I know there's been many parents and children who have been keen to get access to the vaccines, and today's the day we start with 5 to 11s. There is, you know, more than 10,000 places where vaccines are being administered across the country. The majority of those will also be doing kids. So, what I would say to people is: there is absolutely more than enough of the paediatric dosage to get everybody their first dose before they get back to school. The real challenge here is just lining people up with where the capacity is at any given time. So, what I'd say to parents is: if they can't get an appointment in with their, you know, primary health provider, their GP, then they should try around the pharmacies, they should try at some of the state and territory clinics. But there is enough vaccine and there are enough points of distribution, it's just about a little bit of patience.
ISKHANDAR RAZAK: So, enough supply but it's not getting to some places. Are there any areas in particular that we're just not getting children's vaccines or vaccines to in Australia?
JOHN FREWEN: No, look, we've got very comprehensive distribution. And I mean, for the stories you might be hearing- the anecdotal stories about some people finding it hard to get appointments, there are many, many thousands of very positive stories where people have been able to get bookings and people are, you know, are already, you know, ready to go. So again, it's just we- with any of these complex distribution systems it's sometimes hard to predict exactly where the demand will be. But we have- we've got all of the orders placed have either been met or will be met through the course of this week. The vaccines are going out across the nation, into city areas, into remote regional areas. There are, you know, people ready to give the vaccines now, people are making bookings and more bookings will become available every day.
ISKHANDAR RAZAK: It's critically important stuff. It's also critically important for the aged care sector, which is a federal responsibility, for booster shots. We keep on hearing stories of people trying to pull their parents out of their aged care facility to go see a GP to get their booster. Just heard from the sector saying about 50 per cent haven't had their booster there yet. Some of that is because they're not quite due yet, but what is going on with aged care? What are we doing there and what needs to be improved upon?
JOHN FREWEN: Yeah, no, look, aged care - very important - has been an absolute focus for us since before Christmas. There are a bit over 2500 residential aged care facilities. We've already done booster visits to more than 1500 of them. All of the remainders have been aligned with a provider. Now in some cases that's- we do in-reach with a vaccine provider, in other cases, the facilities have made arrangements to do self-vaccination on-site, others will get visits from GPs. But all of those remaining thousand facilities are now aligned with a provider, and we're working to make sure that they're all scheduled within the month of January as they become available. It's a priority for the taskforce, and work is well underway.
ISKHANDAR RAZAK: Lieutenant General, John Frewen, thank you so much for your time.
JOHN FREWEN: Thanks, Isk.
Contact
