Experts warn Australia’s COVID-19 response is being derailed

The Prime Minister has launched into critics, including health experts, who say our vaccine rollout is being derailed and time is running out.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been forced to defend the slow rollout of Australia’s vaccination program amid growing pressure from experts, GPs and the Australian public.

Mr Morrison has faced constant criticism of the handling of the program which has seen just 207,000 Aussies receive the jab — a miniscule amount compared to other developed countries.

He has been undermined by his own department secretary in a Senate hearing, grilled about being “honest” with the Australian people by journalists and slammed by GPs and medical experts who say “time is running out” to get this right.

But at a press conference on Thursday the Prime Minister tried to put those concerns to bed once and for all.

“We are going to hit 250,000 Australians this week,” he said.

“In fact, I suspect that will occur in about the next 24 hours. Last week I was telling you that we had reached 100,000.

“The vaccination program continues to accelerate. We said that we hoped to start the vaccination program in mid-to-late February. Well, we did. We said that we hoped we would be able to get to about 80,000 vaccinations a week in the early phases and we have.

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“We said that we would hope to be getting by the end of March to the position where we would be getting major rolls off the line of vaccines out of Melbourne and we will.

“We said we would be doing it through various phases and that process is already under way and we would be enlisting thousands of doctors around the country in that effort and we have.

“But the thing I always stress when it comes to the vaccination program is this: Were it not for the fact that our government took the strategic decision last August to not rely on international supply of vaccines, then Australia would not have a vaccination program now.”

As of Thursday, the total number of Australians to receive the vaccination was 207,598. That is 46,820 in NSW, 42,989 in Victoria, 25,173 in Queensland, 22,944 in Western Australia, 9831 in South Australia, 5765 in Tasmania, 4373 in the ACT and 4096 in the Northern Territory.

A health worker preparing syringes with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Picture: Johan Nilsson/AFP

For some context, more than 390 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally. There have more than 110 million jabs in the US, roughly 27 million in the UK, 9 million in Israel and 7 million in Chile.

The Australian Government missed its target of 60,000 injections before the end of February and there’s been some confusion about when all Australians will be vaccinated. The Prime Minister sparred with journalists at a press conference about the “October deadline”.

“We were clear a month ago that the October deadline would not include the second dose,” he said.

“What the Government’s said has been very clear.”

But the head of his own Department, Phil Gaetjens, told the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 that it was “my understanding” that people would be “fully vaccinated” by October.

“Fully vaccinated or just one shot?” he was asked.

“Fully vaccinated … as far as I’m aware. I will stand corrected,” he said.

Experts say time is running out as various strains from the UK and South Africa threaten to derail Australia’s precious gains against the virus.

Griffith University policy director Susan Harris-Rimmer told the Courier Mailthat Australia risks stumbling at the final hurdle after doing so well.

Empty vials of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. Picture: Fred Tanneau/AFP

“We bought ourselves all this time which was an amazing feat and buying that time should have meant we were focused on getting this ready,” she said.

“The variants are going to catch up to us – we’ve heard the Premier and chief health officer say they’re worried about the UK and South Africa variants – there is some time urgency and that time is now running out.”

This week, the Australian Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners weighed in with their concerns about Australia’s handling of the vaccine rollout.

“Unlike the flu season, where 15 million doses are already stockpiled, this rollout relies on a weekly supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses that is capped,” the groups said in a statement.

“This means that general practices will have only a modest number of doses available for patients for now.

“It’s clear from the calls many general practices have received this morning that the Government needs to better communicate with the community on the vaccine rollout process, and not build unrealistic expectations, particularly at this early stage,” the organisations said.

The kinks are being ironed out, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt.

On Thursday, he announced 100 Commonwealth clinics, ready to take “all-comers” will be included in the rollout to alleviate stress on GP clinics with the aim to deliver “close to 1000 vaccines a week”.

“That expands the capacity very significantly,” Mr Hunt told the ABC.

A nurse vaccines a health student with the Astra-Zeneca vaccine on March 12. Picture: Fred Tanneau/AFP

Vaccination programs around the world have been forced to acknowledge concerns regarding blood clots after a number of European countries including Germany and France paused their rollouts.

It comes after 15 reports of deep-vein thrombosis and 22 reports of pulmonary embolisms in a vaccinated population in excess of 17 million people.

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration said it has found no evidence to link the vaccine to blood clotting — a stance many experts agree on.

Swinburne University Professor Bruce Thompson from the School of Health Sciences says the vaccine is safe.

“There has been a hunch that of the people who received the AZ vaccine, a few subsequently developed blood clots either as a DVT or in their lungs,” he said.

“At this stage, there is no evidence at all that these are associated with being vaccinated. To stop a vaccination based on a hunch will lead to an increase in COVID deaths.”