Scott Morrison concedes vaccine rollout is a race

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has long defended his commentary on the pace of the vaccine rollout, but today he made a stark admission.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has conceded the vaccine roll out is a race following months of criticism for saying it was not a race.

Mr Morrison was addressing a motion on the floor of parliament to condemn his colleague, Dawson MP George Christensen, for spreading misinformation when he made the admission.

“It doesn’t matter how you start the race, it is how you finish the race. It is how you finish the race,” he said.

Scott Morrison backtracks and confesses the vaccine roll out is a race. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The comment drew interjections from the opposition, who have long criticised Mr Morrison for claiming the rollout was not a race.

Mr Morrison had previously claimed the comment had been taken out of context and it was instead in reference to the approval of the use of vaccines in Australia.

But the line was used long after vaccines were approved for use in Australia.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine on January 25, with AstraZeneca to follow on February 16.

It was health department secretary, and former chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy who was the first to declare it was not a race, in March.

“This is not a race. We have no burning platform in Australia. We are taking it as quickly and carefully and safely as we can,” he said during a press conference to mark 100,000 vaccine doses delivered.

“We can take our time, set up our systems, do it safely and carefully, we are expanding our rollout every day.”

Professor Brendan Murphy was the first to use the now infamous line. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The prime minister soon after adopted the line, repeating it on several occasions before shifting language as supply constraints slowed the pace of the planned rollout.

But on Tuesday in parliament he repeated the line, this time evoking imagery of the tortoise and the hare: “It is how you finish the race,” he said.

“We are going to finish this race and we are going to race all the way to the finish line but we are going to do it as Team Australia, not in a way which seeks to divide Australians and sat Australians against each other.”

“By the end of this year, we will be able to say that we have saved the lives of over 30,000 Australians.”