NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
Well, WA's lagging vaccination rate is still a real cause for concern. We have the lowest double-dose rate of any state or territory. Where sitting at around 63.3 per cent of over 16s. Now the Premier has announced a super vax weekend for this weekend, with no bookings required and thousands of spots available. But the question obviously, is, will it be enough? Lieutenant General John Frewen is the Head of the National COVID Vaccine Task Force, and very pleased that you can join me this morning. Lieutenant General, good morning.
JOHN FREWEN:
Hi Cleo [sic]. Great to be talking with you. And I'd also like to say what great news is about Cleo. I want to pass my admiration to Commissioner Dawson and the WA Police for what's a fantastic effort and heart-warming for all of us.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
Thank you so much, Lieutenant General. They're lovely sentiments, and I'm sure they very much appreciated your message this morning. I'm sure you've been looking very closely at WA and our vaccination rates. Why do you think they're so low?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah look, there's- it's a layered concern, this one. There's hesitancy in there. There's misinformation that feeds parts of hesitancy. Some hesitancy is quite natural and understandable, but there is also a complacency in some of the states where there just haven't been sort of outbreaks that have been experienced, particularly in Victoria and New South Wales. So really, it's about, you know, getting people the right information, and helping people understand that the threat of this thing is very real, and it's likely to something that we're going to have to live with for a while. So the best protection people can have his vaccinations.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
Our success has become our Achilles heel.
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, no. And I think it's totally understandable that, you know, in WA people have continued to enjoy the sorts of freedoms that some communities on the eastern seaboard have not really enjoyed for many months now. But the eastern seaboard is about to start opening up. Sydney and Victoria, foreign visitors are coming back in again now. Delta will move to where the vulnerability is, and this really is a pandemic of the unvaccinated from here on end. So I just really encourage everybody in WA who hasn't done so, to come forward as soon as they can.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
On that point, then, do you think if the WA government sets a date to reopen its borders that would encourage more people to get vaccinated? Do you think the motivation people need is a deadline?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah look, I think dates have been helpful in some other jurisdictions, but that's really a matter for your government and your Premier. But, you know, one date in the sand for me is Christmas. And Christmas time, you know, it takes about six weeks to get the full effect of vaccinations. At best case, if you get one of the mRNA vaccines, it's four weeks between doses, and then it's probably another fortnight before the full effect kicks in. So if people want to be protected before the end of the year, then really, it's right now. These super vax clinics on the weekend, they're a great opportunity, very convenient for people. You know, that's starting a process that, you know, we'll have you in a really good place by Christmas when there will be a lot more people moving around in the east and Delta will be looking for a sort of pathways to areas where it can thrive.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
So what then, do you think- what else needs to happen here? Because availability is not a problem. You know, there are thousands of appointments available. There's plenty of vaccines. A lot of those appointments are going unfilled every day.
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, look, I think you just need to keep having the conversation now and let people understand that the threat is about to go up. The threat is about to go up as New South Wales and Victoria open up and Delta starts to move around. So something is about to change. It's not all of the states that lockdown and we're in that sort of zero community transmission environment. We're moving in Victoria and New South Wales to living with COVID, so that's a different thing. We also had a period where we were very supply constrained, and it was hard to get access to vaccines and those sorts of things. Well, that's long gone now. The appointments are there; the same day appointments are there. The walk-in opportunities are there. It's never been easier to get vaccinated. So, you know, the threat is growing. It's a simple thing to get done now. I think people need to keep encouraging each other to understand this in to, you know, keep reinforcing this isn't just about protecting yourself. It's about protecting your communities, because there is a collective effect from vaccination that's really important.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
Lieutenant General John Frewen is my guest this morning. He's the head of the National COVID Vaccine Task Force. And do you have particular concerns for regional and remote WA, because in the West Pilbara region, for example, only 27 per cent of people are fully vaccinated. Is that down to a lack of opportunity or a lack of care factor?
JOHN FREWEN:
No, I think, again, there's absolutely hesitancy up there. There's misinformation up there, but there is complacency up there as well. So it's those three things, and we need to address all of those. We are worried about communities all over the country that have fallen behind the national averages. You know, in particular, up in WA there's a number of local government areas that we're watching very carefully and working with your authorities on. There are a number of Indigenous communities that are also really well behind the pace. So we're working hard to get people to make the right choice. It's not about access to vaccines now. We've got the vaccines. They're in these places. We can get teams, vaccination teams, anywhere. It's really the willingness of people and the desire of people to get this done as quickly as possible. So we've just got to marry up those two things now, which is willingness and the vaccine.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
Okay. You mentioned those local government areas. So you wrote to three local government areas recently who had concerningly low rates. Do you know- could you tell us who they were and what sort of response you got?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, so I wrote to Rockingham, Swan, and Wanneroo that were three- now, I wrote to 11 across the country where there were really prominent gaps that I just wanted to highlight to those- to the local leaders there, that they were coming up on my radar, as you know, particularly lagging and offering my assistance and offering them some information and some products and those sorts of things. I'm pleased to say, in all three of those, their first dose rates have really started to jump up now. And the gaps across all of those have really started to drop. So Rockingham was about 20 per cent off the post on first dosing, they're now- they've gone from 59 per cent first dose to 75 per cent first dose. They've gone from a 20 per cent gap to a 13 per cent gap. Swan's gone from a 60 per cent first dose to 78 per cent first dose. And Wanneroo's gone from 61 per cent to 70, almost 76 per cent. So in all of those areas, I think it's just about having the right information, sort of understanding the importance of this, and having local leaders. In all of these communities, it's about how local leaders respond and encourage their communities to get this done. And I know there are people at many levels of authority in WA who are now really starting to push this. But now's the time, and this weekend, these super vax clinics are great idea. We've seen very great success with the super clinics in other states. Sometimes, they were driven by the very immediate threat of outbreaks. But WA has got this great opportunity to get the vaccination rates up, you know, without an outbreak. And then, if - hopefully not, but if Delta does get into the communities, then you've got the protection, you've got the community protection, and then it won't let the thing take hold in the same way as it has another places.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
And you talked about needing those local leaders to lead and get that message out. And that would, I guess, be particularly true of Indigenous communities as well. Port Hedland, for instance, 12 per cent of indigenous people are fully vaccinated. So that's an area that needs urgent attention.
JOHN FREWEN:
Oh, absolutely it. No, we're- again, we're working with the NACCHOs. We're working with elders and other community leaders there. We're really trying hard in the communication space. There was a national ad that launched almost a fortnight ago now, the For All of Us campaign. That is very specifically tailored to Indigenous communities. We're working with NITV and we've got some good work going on with some of the pastors who can help try and counter some of the misinformation that's been coming through church groups in some areas. We're also working with Ernie Dingo, and Ernie Dingo is about to go on a tour through some of those remote regional areas to both encourage immunisation, but also to help work on addressing some of the hesitancy and some of the misinformation as well. So we're trying to leave no stone unturned. We're working really closely with your state leads on this stuff. But it's hard, and we just got to keep chipping away at it. And we've got to try and get a sense of urgency into it, because the opportunities there to get the vaccination rates up before the virus hits.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
There's no excuse anymore. Thank you so much for your time and really good to talk to you.
JOHN FREWEN:
Pleasure, Nadia. Great to talk.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS:
Lieutenant General John Frewen there. He's Head of the National COVID vaccine task force.
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