More COVID-19 vaccine rollout data on the way- as long as states agree to be more transparent
The precise number of COVID vaccine doses supplied by the Commonwealth, how many are unused and how many have been wasted remains unknown, but that may soon change.
Queenslanders could soon have more oversight on how the nation’s coronavirus vaccine rollout is tracking - as long as state and territory leaders agree to be more transparent when national cabinet meets later this week.
A total of 841,885 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered nationwide as of Saturday evening, nearly 87,000 of those in Queensland according to the latest federal data.
The latest vaccine figures show the Sunshine State has delivered a third of all its jabs since the rollout began in late February in less than seven days.
But the precise number of doses supplied by the Commonwealth, how many are unused and how many have been wasted - and which jurisdiction is responsible - remains unknown after national cabinet agreed in March to only release data on successfully delivered jabs.
The Courier-Mail understands the Prime Minister is keen for more transparency in the vaccine rollout data, rather than the bare bones weekly release that was agreed to by state and territory leaders.
The issue is expected to be raised in national cabinet this Friday, with the idea of daily national data releases instead of weekly updates to be floated.
It comes as the war of words between the Commonwealth and state governments over the pace of the vaccine rollout was resurrected on Sunday.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles hit out at Defence Minister Peter Dutton for slamming Queensland’s snap lockdown as a “bit of a panic” from the Premier.
Mr Dutton said leaders should be able to deal with an outbreak of a few cases, and said lockdowns were “incredibly disruptive”.
“There has been from the start, probably even in this latest example, been a bit of panic by Premier (Annastacia) Palaszczuk,” Mr Dutton told Sky News.
“We’re lucky that the cases ultimately dwindled and the contact tracing was effective.”
Hitting back on social media, Mr Miles told the nation’s new Defence Minister to “eat some chocolate and read a book”.
“We might not have needed the lockdown if you’d delivered the 4 million doses you promised by 31 March,” he said.
By midafternoon Victoria had joined the fray, with the state’s Treasurer Tim Pallas slamming the vaccine program as “retrograde” before calling on the Commonwealth for greater transparency on the progress of the rollout.
Health Minister Greg Hunt, sidestepping the criticism from state leaders, focused on the “deep partnership” required for the vaccine rollout between the Commonwealth and the states and GPs.
Asked why some GPs in Queensland had been forced to beg and borrow vaccine doses from hospitals, Mr Hunt said deliveries of the vaccine had continued despite catastrophic flooding in NSW.
He said deliveries had been “a day or two later” than expected and in some instances GPs hadn’t placed orders for doses “in time”.
Originally published as More COVID-19 vaccine rollout data on the way- as long as states agree to be more transparent
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