True number of priority jabs given to NSW revealed

A move to gift NSW doctors and pharmacists triple the number of vaccines compared to their Victorian counterparts has had a huge impact on the vaccine race.

NSW doctors and pharmacists received triple the number of vaccine doses over the past two months compared to their Victorian counterparts in what Daniel Andrews has blasted as an “under the table” deal.

The Premier unleashed at the federal government on Tuesday after the Herald Sun revealed the number of GPs approved to vaccinate Victorians was held back so an extra 260 clinics could be brought online in Sydney.

This expansion of the NSW primary care rollout – coupled with a surge in demand sparked by Sydney’s worsening outbreak – resulted in its GPs and pharmacies administering 1.9 million AstraZeneca doses in July and August – double the number given in Victorian clinics.

The prioritisation of NSW has left Victoria weeks behind in the vaccine race and prompted Mr Andrews to ­demand a “reckoning” to make up the shortfall.

“I signed up to a national plan to vaccinate our nation, not a national plan to vaccinate Sydney,” Mr Andrews said.

“What I didn’t know was that Premier (Gladys) Berejiklian is in a sprint, while the rest of us are supposed to do some sort of egg and spoon thing.”

NSW doctors and pharmacists received triple the number of vaccine doses.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt defended the rollout, saying vaccine doses were fast-tracked to Sydney in the same way supplies were brought forward in Victoria’s outbreak earlier this year. AstraZeneca orders have also been uncapped for all states.

The federal government brought forward 300,000 doses in July for NSW and unveiled a bonus delivery in ­August of 530,000 Pfizer jabs from ­Poland.

New data obtained by the Herald Sun shows federal authorities sent 5.6 million doses to NSW between July 5 and August 29, compared with 2.5 million doses to Victoria – a disparity bigger than the extra boost for Sydney’s outbreak and the population difference between the states.

The gap was largely caused by NSW primary care clinics ordering 3.5 million doses, compared with 1.1 million doses distributed to Victorian GPs and pharmacies, including double the number of Pfizer doses.

NSW GPs and pharmacies administered about 910,000 Pfizer doses in July and ­August, compared with about 520,000 in Victorian primary care clinics.

When compared on a per capita basis, a federal government source said this was a gap of about 350,000 doses, which was explained by the extra jabs for NSW that were publicly announced.

Daniel Andrews lashed the federal government over Victoria’s vaccine ‘egg and spoon race’ Picture: David Crosling

Scott Morrison hit back at Mr Andrews and rejected suggestions Victoria had been blindsided. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

The supply boost for NSW meant that while the two states were at the same point in the rollout at the start of August, with 42 per cent of those eligible having received first doses, NSW is now at 74.8 per cent and Victoria at 61.59 per cent.

Mr Andrews said while he supported the extra allocations announced for NSW, Victorians “would be excused for being quite angry” at “secret arrangements” that favoured Sydney.

He said this may have prevented Victoria’s lockdown ending sooner.

“It needs to stop … we want our fair share,” he said. “We need to get those doses that we didn’t get fast-tracked to us.”

Asked about the Premier’s comments, Scott Morrison said: “I don’t share his view”.

The Prime Minister argued he had rejected requests from NSW for extra doses.

“I wasn’t going to have doses moved from other states to NSW; I went out and got other doses,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Hunt added that Victoria’s state hubs received a higher per capita rate of doses than NSW, and an extra 300,000 doses were sent to the state earlier this year.

The Queensland and West Australian governments also demanded the PM deliver them extra doses to make up for the prioritisation of NSW.

Federal opposition health spokesman Mark Butler blasted the “secret diversion of hundreds of thousands of doses”.

But Mr Hunt said the focus on NSW was necessary to “save lives and protect lives”, and maintained “every state and territory receives a per capita allocation”.

He said an extra 1.7 million doses from Singapore and Britain would be distributed evenly among states in the next week.

The federal government will bring an extra 402 Victorian GPs to the vaccination race from next week, and double the number of doses provided to hundreds of other clinics to 300 a week.

Mr Andrews said Victoria would soon add an extra 40,000 appointments in its state-run hubs – meaning 300,000 doses could be administered weekly – as extra sites were set up in Altona, Newport and Bundoora.