Simon Birmingham admits Covid-19 vaccine rollout ‘hasn’t gone as hoped’

A senior federal minister has admitted the national vaccine rollout ‘hasn’t gone as hoped’ but reiterated another priority.

A senior federal minister has conceded on national television that the government has fallen short in its vaccine rollout, but says the problems could not have been foreseen.

The Morrison government had originally hoped to have four million Australian adults vaccinated by the end of April, but as of Tuesday, 3.7 million people have had one dose and just under 500,000 have been fully vaccinated.

Six aged care facilities, for which the government is responsible for vaccinating, have reportedly not received any doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Covid-19 has once again reached Victoria’s aged care sector, where some residents still have not been vaccinated. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

As Victoria braces for a potential extension to its seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown, an alarming sense of deja vu is sweeping through the state after it was revealed three cases had been detected in aged care.

One of the cases, who worked across two private facilities, had not been vaccinated. Despite a commitment by the commonwealth government to have the aged care sector fully immunised as a matter of priority, it’s believed just over 40,000 staff throughout the country have had their shot.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham admitted the Australian vaccine rollout 'hadn't gone as planned'.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham on Tuesday accepted the vaccination rollout had “not gone as we would have hoped” but pointed to supply delays from Europe and shifting medical advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mr Birmingham said the delay partly accounted for the sluggish rollout numbers but insisted the government was prioritising aged care residents.

“There have been disruptions to the vaccination rollout, that is 100 per cent acknowledged,” he told the ABC on Tuesday.

“They are just the facts, and we‘ve had to respond to those facts. In responding to those facts, we’ve made sure that we still pushed on with aged care residents as the priority of Australia’s vaccination rollout.”

He said the government “would have wished” to have received the more than 3.5 million doses that were expected to come from Europe earlier in the year, and that was part of the reason for the delay in vaccinating the aged care sector.

Mr Birmingham said “99 per cent” of aged care facilities across the country had access to the Covid-19 vaccine, and that 85 per cent of residents had chosen to receive the jab.

“The priority has always been on getting those older Australians (vaccinated). And what we have managed to do is get across in Victoria 100 per cent of aged care facilities and to ensure that residents have that choice,” he said.

Amid reports 600 aged care facilities had only received one dose of the vaccine, Mr Birmingham said they were following health advice.

Medical advice does not warn against administering AstraZeneca, which is produced onshore, to people aged over 50, but the jab requires a 12-week wait between its first and second doses.

“It is absolutely an essential part that will enable us, following that 12-week gap, to send those teams back around to each of those aged care facilities,” he said.