MICHAEL ROWLAND:
As we’ve been reporting this morning, more than 450,000 Pfizer doses have arrived in Australia overnight from Britain, bolstering supplies for the COVID vaccination drive. The delivery is the first instalment in a 4-million dose swap deal with UK. Lieutenant General John Frewen is the National COVID Taskforce Coordinator. General, he joins us now. General Frewen, good morning to you.
JOHN FREWEN:
Good morning Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Where will these doses go? The ones that arrived overnight?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, so, look, they're going to be distributed on a per capita basis around the nation. This is really exciting news and is really going to help us accelerate the program.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
How gradually will the rest of the doses from the UK arrive? Is it a weekly basis? Fortnightly?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, look, there will be another set of flights in a couple of days, but we'll pretty much be getting a million of the four million every week over the next four weeks.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. And what impact will this have on the vaccination drive in terms of possibly bringing forward those 70 and 80 per cent double dose targets?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, so, look, this will be twice the mRNA we're expecting to have this month. It’s around about the levels we’re expecting to have in October. And we also have a million doses of Moderna turning up in a week or so. So this is going to be great news. It means that there will be plenty of mRNA vaccines available now. We're bringing on additional points of presence. So, supply isn't the great challenge now. It really is about people coming forward and I really encourage everybody who hasn't done so to get a booking and get vaccinated.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
We are still hearing, though, care of viewers getting on to us most mornings, General Frewen, there are supply issues when it comes to Pfizer. Long waiting times, a struggle to get appointments. How long will that last? And how quickly will those delays, I guess, decrease the more these doses arrive?
JOHN FREWEN:
Look, I think the waiting times are very different around the nation. In some places, the waiting times are already pretty good. But I think now with these amounts of supply over the next couple of weeks, people should be able to get bookings within a fortnight or so. We’ve also got 12 to 15-year-olds coming on from next Monday. They'll be able to access the Pfizer doses but we, of course, also will have pharmacies coming on with Moderna - another mRNA vaccine - in the next couple of weeks also. So that’s going to be a lot more opportunity, a lot more places. So again, I think there's a really good chance to start moving things along much more quickly, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
From your desk, where are waiting times the longest?
JOHN FREWEN:
Look, I wouldn't sort of go to that. It's really about opportunity and people can still get AstraZeneca as well-
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
[Talks over] But you’d have the information in front of you, I’m assuming, General Frewen. Where are the waiting times the longest?
JOHN FREWEN:
I don't have that information on me right now, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. So, should you get that information? Because there are lots of very concerned people out there waiting long stretches of time for Pfizer - especially mum and dads wanting to get their 16 and 17-year-old kids vaccinated?
JOHN FREWEN:
Well, there's opportunities through GPs. There's opportunities through state hubs. There's opportunities through pharmacies now. So, there are many different possible pathways. But really, it just depends on which vaccine you want to access exactly where you are right now. As we bring on the 12 to 15-year-olds, it will be important that parents go with their children and consent is provided as well. But I'm very confident now that with all of the vaccines that we've got coming in this month and all of the points of presence we’ve got opening up, that people will be able to get vaccinated quickly.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. The Courier-Mail this morning is running what I think is a great campaign, a lot of other papers have done it as well, urging Queenslanders to get vaccinated. As you would well know, Queensland and WA are lagging compared to the rest of the country. In Queensland's case, though, how much of that is, on one hand, complacency? How much of it is on the other, as the Queensland Premier keeps telling us, a supply issue? Queensland not getting the supply that they need?
JOHN FREWEN:
So, look, a couple of the places where there haven't been big outbreaks, I think that that has contributed to potentially a sense of complacency. But there has been AstraZeneca available throughout. Yes, there has been supply constraints on mRNA vaccines but now the mRNA vaccines are coming and they’re coming soon. So again, people just now need to get organised and get out and get vaccinated.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
What are we doing to increase vaccination amongst Indigenous communities?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, Michael. So, I took a plan last week to both the National Security Committee of Cabinet for COVID and to the National Cabinet. We're looking to find every way to accelerate the rollout in the Indigenous communities and over the next month. We'll be working a plan in consultation with the states and territories and the Indigenous health services. In the initial instance, we're going to provide additional support into 20 non-regional communities and then another ten regional communities where the biggest gaps are in the rollout at the moment. I mean, there is a lot of hesitancy out in these communities so we're working with local leaders to get the message out that not only are the vaccines safe, but there is a real urgency to this, and we’ve had very clear example of that in western New South Wales.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Just finally before we go, General Frewen, do you share the Prime Minister's optimism that we'll be sharing Christmas tables with relatives travelling from interstate, life pretty much back to normal by then?
JOHN FREWEN:
Michael, all I know is that we've got a really good opportunity to get our vaccination rates up through 70 per cent. We've got a great opportunity now to get up to 80 per cent before then, but it really comes down to people being prepared to get vaccinated. So again, I just encourage everybody to get out as quickly as you can, get booked in and get vaccinated.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
General Frewen, thanks for your time this morning.
JOHN FREWEN:
Thanks Michael.
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