COVID-19 infected doctor wasn’t vaccinated

Despite working with COVID-19 patients at a Brisbane hospital that has a vaccine clinic, a doctor who was infected with coronavirus had not yet been vaccinated.

The doctor at the centre of Brisbane’s latest COVID-19 outbreak has not yet been vaccinated, despite working at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, which has a vaccine clinic.

The revelation comes as thousands of vaccines are set to remain stored in a fridge, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insisting the government will continue its “slow and steady” rollout despite the new infection.

The Saturday Courier-Mail revealed just 24 per cent of the state’s vaccination stockpile has been administered, with only half of the 37,000 frontline workers in Phase 1A of the rollout receiving a jab.

Ms Palaszczuk said the vaccination rollout was on target.

“It’s a gradual rollout…. Not everyone working in contact with hotel quarantine people have been done to date,” she said.

“It’s a slow and steady process to get this right.

“As we get more and more supply more and more people are going to get vaccinated.”

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said the government needed to maintain a stockpile in case the Federal Government struggled to obtain supply from overseas.

“We need to keep adequate supply just in case we don’t get future supplies when they’re due and also to make sure we’ve got enough for that second vaccination,” she said.

“We can’t afford to start and stop on a continual basis.”

Deputy Chief Health Officer Sonya Bennet said the vaccine rollout was “on track”.

“It’s always been anticipated to take some time,” she said.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel… but there’s certainly a long way to go

“We don’t have anyone fully vaccinated yet so until we are confident that both individuals have immunity and that the population, in general, has a level of coverage we will continue to respond to cases to suppress any transmission.”

Opposition Health spokeswoman Ros Bates slammed the government for administering just one quarter of the state’s vaccine supply.

“The Queensland Government is behind the eight ball and now the safety and livelihoods of hardworking, honest Queenslanders are at risk,” she said.

“Instead of ripping up bills and blaming Canberra for everything, the Queensland Government should have been fast-tracking the rollout of the vaccine to our frontline staff.

“The vaccine is in the hands of the Queensland Government. Why isn’t it in the arms of Queenslanders?”

Ms Palaszczuk called for the Federal Government to consider her regional quarantine plan following an influx of COVID-positive people into the state’s urban hotels from overseas.

“This is why I keep talking about regional quarantine, out of the cities, as a possible solution to this,” she said.

As of Friday night, 16,120 jabs has been administered in Queensland – not including those in aged care – despite the stockpile reaching 66,550 vaccines.

The state is set to take delivery of 19,890 more Pfizer and 6480 AstraZeneca vaccines on Sunday, bringing the total stockpile to 92,930.

Queensland has been under fire over the past week for its slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine compared to New South Wales.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week declared the vaccine could only be rolled out as fast as it was being supplied by the Federal Government.

About a third of Queensland’s 1000 hotel quarantine workers have received their COVID-19 vaccines, with Health Minister Yvette D’Ath declaring the state’s vaccination rollout “continued to exceed its projected targets”.

“We are getting this vaccine to more and more people and very soon our first frontline workers will receive their second vaccine dose,” she said.