MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Yesterday, Australia hit a milestone with 10 million booster doses administered.
LISA MILLAR:
And with the Novavax rollout now underway in Sydney, it's hoped those reluctant to get the jab will change their mind. Lieutenant General John Frewen, Coordinator General of the National COVID Vaccine Taskforce, joins us now from Canberra. Good morning. Welcome to News Breakfast.
JOHN FREWEN:
Morning.
LISA MILLAR:
What difference do you think Novavax might make?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, Lisa, it's a different vaccine to the other ones in that it's protein-based. So we know there have been people who are holding out for that vaccine, so we're hoping there will be a take-up. Of course, we're now at 94 per cent of the nation have had their primary doses, the first two doses. So, you know, we've got more than 3000 places that have expressed an interest in stocking it. Over 2000 of those have taken up orders already. We've started getting the very initial doses into arms, but over the next two weeks it will be more widely available. And if we can get another one, maybe even 2 per cent, that would-be fantastic. So, for those people who've been, you know, waiting for either Novavax or are still making up their mind, I'd urge them to consider the protein-based vaccine as an option, and if they can, come forward as quickly as possible.
LISA MILLAR:
The urgency seems to be dropping away for a lot of people, though, that the booster number's slowing as we're getting through this Omicron peak.
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, look, so the booster rollout is going- it's at about six times the speed of what the initial rollout went at - 2.- 10.2 million doses as of yesterday, as you just mentioned. We're getting up now to just shy of 60 per cent of eligible people - that's the 17 million eligible Australians at the moment. So people are still coming forward.
We had 144,000 people come forward for boosters yesterday, so the uptake is still strong. But I know there are a whole range of factors around boosters now, and why people who came forward for the first two doses are either taking their time, or are still making up their mind. But to have the best possible protection for yourself, and for your family and friends, the booster is really important. So again, I really encourage people to come forward.
LISA MILLAR:
Let's look at what's happening in the various states with the children getting vaccines. Victoria yesterday was- the discussion was about the fact that they thought by now, 80 per cent of five to 11-year-olds would have had the first dose, and yet it's only 53 per cent. It is way below what you thought it was going to be, wasn't it?
JOHN FREWEN:
Well so, we've had more than a million kids now, in a bit over a month, take the vaccines, which is great, and parents have brought them forward to do that. Nationally we're at a bit over 47 per cent - 47.6 per cent - so we're getting up towards one in two kids.
Now, this uptake is ahead of places like Germany, Israel and the US - so it's a very credible uptake. We saw this also with the 12 to 17-year-olds. There was, initially, a really sharp sort of uptake, and then it sort of plateaued out, and then there's been sort of slow progress from here. I know there are some very specific concerns around the safety of the vaccines for kids. But you know, I say to parents that there is the health advice available on the health websites and that that stress these vaccines have been fully tested; they're safe for kids. And again, the best protection they can have is to get vaccinated, so I'd just implore people.
There are more than 6000 places across the country where you can get walk-ins on a daily basis to get the kids done if necessary. Or you can get a booking through your GP if that's what some people prefer. But it's important to get it done; it's safe to get it done; and, I really encourage parents to come forward if they haven't had the chance already.
LISA MILLAR:
Can I turn to aged care as well? Because that has been a real issue with so many- you know, there have been so many issues with the vaccine rollout, but aged care, in particular with the boosters. You want to see providers being able to give the boosters. You've asked them to apply. You'd be dealing with it as those applications came in. Are they applying?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. So look, all the way along with the aged care facilities, there's been different pathways that have been opened.
We have had vaccine in-reach teams that have been able to turn up and do the facilities themselves. We've set up hubs in some areas if that's been more convenient for people. We've had GPs themselves going into these aged care facilities. Or, some aged care facilities themselves, early on, said, hey, we've got experience doing flu vaccines, we would like to do our own vaccine programs - and we facilitated that early on.
In this round of visits now, again, all of those pathways are open. But what we've tried to do is to raise awareness of the self-vaccination option, and to encourage facilities to come forward for that. Because ultimately, we do want to return the vaccine rollout to a more business-as-usual type process. And we think, the more aged care facilities that can either do their own self-vaccination, or that have a standing relationship with perhaps a GP in their local area, that is a really good way to go in the longer term.
But for now we're doing in-reaches where we need to. We did- we got 100 per cent of the facilities done into that first week of February. In parallel, we've been doing second visits. We've already done more man 400 facilities with second visits. And we're up over 83 per cent of the eligible residents who've had their boosters, which is great. And we'll keep going around and we'll also keep encouraging all these other pathways as well.
LISA MILLAR:
Alright. John Frewen, thanks for your time.
JOHN FREWEN:
Thanks, Lisa.
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