Anthony Albanese calls out lack of supply to regional communities

Central Queensland GP speaks out on Pfizer as demand for the vaccine surges: “We need to do much better in terms of regional communities.”

Nurse manager Jessica Craig showing Labor candidate for Flynn Matt Burnett and leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese Covid-19 vaccines

A Gladstone nurse has criticised the lack of Pfizer vaccines which are available to residents.

Port Curtis Medical Centre nurse manager and immunisation nurse Jessica Craig said there was not enough shipments coming into the region.

She said Port Curtis Medical Centre, Gladstone Super Clinic, BITS Medical Centre and Gladstone Medical Centre were the only clinics administering the vaccine.

“We definitely could do more, there are shipments coming but it’s not enough,” she said.

Labor candidate for Flynn Matt Burnett and leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese

Ms Craig said at Port Curtis only eight vials of the Pfizer vaccine were currently available, with six doses per vial.

She said the clinic had the capacity to administer 1000 vaccinations per week, but had only received a shipment of 300 a fortnight.

“Our phones are off the hook,” she said.

“We are able to do more, we worked out we could do 1000 vaccinations per week but currently we’ve only had a shipment of 300.”

At the doctor’s surgery on Monday, Labor candidate for Flynn Matt Burnett joined Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese to discuss the lack of Pfizer vaccinations in the region.

Nurse manager Jessica Craig showing Labor candidate for Flynn Matt Burnett and leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese Covid-19 vaccines

Mr Burnett said it was a serious issue in Central Queensland when he, himself, couldn’t receive the Pfizer jab.

“They said there was none available at any local GP, so as candidate for Flynn … I called Anthony Albanese,” he said.

Mr Albanese said there was not enough supply to cater for regional communities.

“The truth is we haven’t had enough supply as we didn’t do enough deals to roll out the vaccine and we also didn’t fix national quarantine,” he said.

“We need to do much better in terms of regional communities.”

Port Curtis Medical Centre medical director Colan McGree estimated about 90 per cent of the Gladstone population was still waiting to get vaccinated.

Port Curtis Medical Centre nurse manager Jessica Craig and medical director Colan McGree

“They are more willing here (to get the vaccine) than they are in the city,” he said.

“The thing I like to say to people who are worried about the astrazeneca vaccine and clotting, we’ve had three deaths in Australia – while that is tragic – we’ve had three deaths out of five million astrazeneca administered.

“What if those five million had caught Covid-19? How many deaths would we have from that?

“The risk of getting a clot is not associated with getting the vaccine or having the disease in fact, it is determined by your immune system.

“I’ll say to anyone out there who has had a clot in the leg or the lung, that’s no reason to not get the astrazeneca vaccine.”

The push for more vaccines comes ahead of a National cabinet meeting Friday afternoon, where a decision about mandatory vaccinations for FIFO, aviation and disability workers could be made.

NewsCorp on Friday reported Australia was originally slated to receive 700,000 Pfizer jabs a week by the end of July and into August, with supplies increasing to 2m doses a week in October.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt revealed they were confident more Pfizer than originally planned would arrive in August.

It’s understood 1m Pfizer jabs a week will now arrive in the last two weeks of July with more in August.

The Federal Government has been approached for further comment.