‘Herded into tents’: Scott Morrison’s gibe after facing rollout questions

Scott Morrison says elderly people won’t be ‘herded into tents’ to speed up Australia’s vaccine’s rollout despite it trailing behind initial estimations.

The Prime Minister has defended a sluggish start to Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, insisting the elderly won’t be “herded into tents” to speed up progress.

Just 100,000 Australians have been vaccinated more than a fortnight since the rollout began, with the government aiming to immunise four million people by early April.

Mr Morrison also said in January the government aimed to vaccinate 80,000 Australians per week in the early stages of the rollout.

But with Australia’s supply dented by shipment blockages in Europe, Mr Morrison insisted on Wednesday that those early predictions were always movable.

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Scott Morrison has defended a slow start to Australia’s vaccine rollout. Picture: Diego Fedele / Getty Images

The PM said elderly Australians would not be ‘herded into tents’ to speed up progress. Picture: Steven Saphore / AFP

“We said at the time that any of these estimates that we give are always subject to the progress of the rollout and the events that we encounter along the way,” he said.

Mr Morrison said “what matters most is doing this safely” and prioritising the needs of the elderly Australians who will receive the vaccine first.

“We’re not going to put them in buses, take them off to military sites and have them herded into tents where they’re going to be vaccinated,” he said.

“No, they’re going to go to their GP. They’re going to go to a proper place where they can get the care and support that they need when they’re having these vaccines administered.”

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said while “all Australians” wanted to see the vaccine administered safely, they expected the government to meet its pledges.

“The government made a commitment that four million Australians would be vaccinated in March,” he said.

Richard Marles says the government is ‘a long way off’ meeting its targets. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

“We’ve got about three weeks left, we’re a long way off that. It’s what the government committed to, that’s what we expect the government to ultimately fulfil.”

But Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy played down concerns over the rollout speed, saying Australia’s low case numbers meant it could afford to be patient.

“This is not a race. We have no burning platform in Australia (and) we are taking it as quickly and carefully and safely as we can,” he said.

“We’re not like the US or the UK or most other countries in the world where they’ve got people in hospital dying.

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