Michael McGuire: A brief history of vaccination according to Scott Morrison, presented without comment
It’s been almost a year since Australians were told they were at the front of the queue. Michael McGuire looks at what’s changed.
A brief history of Australia’s vaccination program:
August 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison: “The Oxford vaccine is one of the most advanced and promising in the world and under this deal we have secured early access for every Australian.
“Australians will be among the first in the world to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, if it proves successful, through an agreement between the Australian government and UK-based drug company AstraZeneca.”
September 2020, Mr Morrison: “By securing the production and supply agreements, Australians will be among the first in the world to receive a safe and effective vaccine.”
November 2020, Health Minister Greg Hunt: “Our strategy puts Australia at the front of the queue.
“The goal and the expectation is that Australians who sought vaccination will be vaccinated within 2021.”
January 2021, Mr Morrison: “A safe and effective vaccine – validated, proven by our scientists, by our doctors – will be available for all Australians and will be a key step in our recovery.
“We hope by the … end of March, I should say, to have reached some four million population. That is a target.
“We don’t want to make promises that we can’t keep.
“The events of recent weeks, I think, will mean that four million position will be something that is going to be achieved in early April.” (Actual number: 650,000).
February 2021, Mr Morrison: “Our aim is to offer all Australians the opportunity to be vaccinated by October. This vaccination program launches us down our path out of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.”
Mr Morrison – on day he receives Pfizer vaccine:“This is a historic day for Australia. What we’re demonstrating today is our priorities.
“I think as time goes on and as people see the benefits, as we’re already starting to see in other countries that have gone down this path, I would expect to see confidence continue to lift.
“Every Australian who wishes to be vaccinated will be able to receive a vaccine this year.”
March 2021, Mr Morrison: “We have been able to secure our supplies, and additional supplies for importation, both with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which means we can continue the rollout of our program.
“So, I want to assure Australians that we’ve been able to secure those vaccines.
“This particular shipment was not one we’d counted on for the rollout, and so we will continue unabated.”
Mr Hunt: “We are very clear that this does not affect the pace of the rollout. That shipment had not been factored into our distribution to the states and territories.”
Mr Morrison: “(Chief medical officer) Brendan Murphy tells me, just as recently as yesterday, yes, October, that’s the date and we are comfortable with that.
“It’s not a race. It’s not a competition.
“We were supposed to get, and contracted to get, 3.8 million AstraZeneca vaccines in these early weeks. We’ve got way less than that – 700,000.”
April 2021, Mr Morrison: “The government has also not set, nor has any plans to set, any new targets for completing first doses.
“Rather than set targets that can get knocked about by every to and fro of international supply chains and other disruptions that can occur, we’re just getting on with it.
“This is a complex task and there are problems with the program that we need to solve to ensure more Australians can be vaccinated safely and more quickly.’’
May 2021, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg: “The assumption (in the budget) is that every Australian who would like to get two shots of the vaccine will be able to do so by the end of the year.”
Mr Morrison: “The budget papers themselves make no reference to first or second doses, Mr Speaker. It makes no reference to either of them.”
June 2021, Mr Morrison: “The government is indeed responsible for the national vaccination strategy, right across the country.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian: “We have literally millions of people in NSW wanting the vaccine. The NSW government cannot control how many doses we get (and) I want to assure the community whenever we get doses, we get them in arms.”
‘I wish we had someone like this as PM instead of bumbling Albo’
