Australian government reveals who gets the COVID-19 vaccine first, $11m fine for vaccine theft
The government has unveiled more details about who gets COVID-19 vaccines first and what’s being done to protect vaccines from theft.
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Australians illegally buying or selling COVID-19 vaccines on the black market face jail and fines of up to $11 million, it’s been revealed, as the government yesterday disclosed who would be getting the first doses and how they will be kept secure.
Frontline health and aged care workers, quarantine staff and disability workers will be the first in line for the vaccines under a rollout strategy endorsed by National Cabinet yesterday.
It comes as the nation’s medicines watchdog the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and Australian Border Force told News Corp Australia they “have tough powers in place to prevent and detect the illegal import and supply of vaccines”.
Civil penalties for buying and selling the products range from a maximum of $1,110,000 for an individual to $11,100,000 for a corporation.
Criminal penalties can range up to five years in jail or fines of $888,000 for each breach, the TGA said.
The federal government and pharmaceutical companies are ramping up a major security effort to safeguard vaccine supply and protect it from thieves.
The TGA told News Corp Australia it is engaging software and data specialists for the task, which will use sophisticated tracking and tracing technology.
This will “ensure vaccines can be tracked at every stage in their journey, from receipt from the manufacturer through to post-immunisation monitoring,” the TGA said.
MORE: COVID-19 vaccines selling for $24k online
The Australian Government plans to record every vaccine dose in a patient’s personal immunisation record so it can track each batch.
The measures will not just guard against theft and potential bribery of medical professionals, it will also ensure people can be contacted if it is later discovered the vaccines have adverse outcomes.
People who receive the vaccine will be sent a text message two days after they receive a vaccine asking them to report any adverse events, Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly told the Senate.
Once vaccine doses are delivered to a State or Territory vaccination site, States and Territories will take responsibility for the physical safety and appropriate storage and handling of those doses.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer also revealed plans to employ GPS-enabled thermal sensors in every vaccine shipment to track its location and temperature and guard against piracy or theft.
“These GPS-enabled devices will allow Pfizer to proactively prevent unwanted deviations and act before they happen,” the company told News Corp Australia.
It is understood the company is also plotting to organise fake shipments in dummy trucks to confuse criminals, although it refused to confirm this.
Glassmaker Corning Inc, which manufacturers the glass vials needed to store the vaccines, will use black-light verification to curb counterfeiting.
Australian vaccine manufacturer CSL, which began producing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine this week said it would not reveal its security policies in case it helped out illegal actors.
“We manage the security of all our assets, both physical and digital, with the highest priority and maintain constant vigilance to protect them from potential threat. Our systems and processes ensure that we constantly adapt and respond to evolving risks,” a spokeswoman for the company said.
The Australian Medical Association has warned any doctor who accepts a bribe to fast track a patient’s access to a COVID-19 vaccine risks deregistration and would be unable to continue to practice.
“Being the former chair of the ethics committee, that would be completely unethical, outside of professional standards as a doctor,” AMA vice president Dr Chris Moy told News Corp.
“They would be risking deregistration frankly,” he said.
The Australian COVID-19 Vaccination Policy states the next priority will be those who have an increased risk of developing severe disease including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the elderly and people with underlying select medical conditions.
Next in line will be essential service workers and those in key occupations required for societal functioning.
A government advisory board is still working on the final list of workers in each of these categories and there is as yet no plan for how the general population will get access to the vaccines.
“Those that are caring for vulnerable people, vulnerable people themselves, and those at highest risk of transmission will be the ones on the priority list at the national level,” Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said. If another significant virus outbreak occurs people in that region might also get priority access to vaccines.
“Where a State or Territory has a region or regions where significant COVID-19 community transmission is taking place, additional doses may be allocated to support ring-fencing, where this is supported by the epidemiological data,” the policy states.
The government has secured more than 134 million doses of four COVID-19 vaccines that are all still in the clinical trial stage and they all require two doses two to three weeks apart to be effective.
The strategy says careful records will be kept to ensure people receive two doses of the same vaccine if more than one is in use.
General practitioners, the existing 147 GP respiratory clinics, state vaccination clinics and workplace vaccination clinics will deliver the vaccines and pharmacies will be able to deliver them to healthy adults.
When testing shows the vaccines are safe in children there will be school based vaccination programs.
A special workforce is being trained to deliver the shots. Access to COVID-19 vaccines in Australia will be free and vaccination won’t be compulsory but it could be nine months before everyone who wants one is able to access a shot.
“It won’t be a mandatory vaccination – that is not the government’s policy and has never been the government’s policy,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday.
No COVID-19 vaccine has completed clinical trials or been approved for use here but Health Minister Greg Hunt has predicted the first doses will be rolled out from March next year.
Vaccine production is already underway even though clinical trials are still ongoing and Australia is due to receive 3 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine early next year.
Professor Kelly said the government was planning a strong communication strategy to combat the anti-vaccination movement.
“We’re very aware that there will be people that are not wanting to have this vaccination or to spread information which is not true,” he said.
WHO GETS THE COVID-19 VACCINES FIRST
FIRST STAGE
Frontline health workers
Aged care workers
Quarantine staff
Disability support workers
SECOND STAGE
Older people
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
People with underlying select medical conditions
THIRD STAGE
Select essential services personnel
Workers in key occupations required for societal functioning
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