Anthony Fauci’s surprising response to Aussie vaccine rollout

Australia’s embattled vaccine rollout has faced harsh criticism but US expert Dr Anthony Fauci has offered a very different view of our progress.

Top US infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, has weighed in on Australia’s embattled COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

The rollout has been plagued with issues since beginning earlier this year, from supply problems, quarrels between the states and Federal Government and, most recently, the AstraZeneca vaccine not being recommended for people under 50 due to blood clot risks.

The vaccine rollout fell so far behind its original targets that Prime Minister Scott Morrisonditched plans to announce revised goals.

The rollout has faced harsh criticisms from the public, politicians and medical experts alike but Dr Fauci held a very different view of how Australia’s rollout was progressing.

Speaking to ABC NewsRadio, Dr Fauci pointed out that Australia’s vaccination program was still in its early stages.

“I really do hesitate to make any critical remarks about what Australia is doing because a rollout is a complicated issue when you start the rollout,” he said.

RELATED: Threat to Australia’s exit strategy exposed

Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has weighed in on Australia’s embattled COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

“I wouldn’t be that hard on Australia if this is the beginning of your program because you always expect some stumbles early on.”

Dr Fauci also urged against comparing Australia’s rollout to the one occurring in the US as the two countries are in very different situations – with half of all adults in the latter nation having received at least one dose.

While Australia’s population is about 25.6 million and our rollout largely relies on just the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs, America needed 600 million vaccine doses for its population of 300 million, meaning it had to seek as many alternatives as possible, Dr Fauci said.

“We needed more than one company because the companies had obligations to other countries in the world, and they were not going to give us all the vaccine that we needed,” he said.

“So we had to utilise other companies.”

Ahead of a National Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss resetting Australia’s rollout – with proposed changes set to be discussed on Thursday – the Prime Minister said that millions of Australians could be vaccinated for COVID-19 sooner than originally planned.

Mr Morrison said he wanted Australians aged 50-69 to be offered the AstraZeneca vaccine, which federal health authorities now recommend only for people over 50.

“We don’t want to see one vaccine that’s rolling off the line and going through the approval processes and the batch testing sitting in a fridge,” he said.

“If there’s someone over 50 who’s there and wants to take that vaccine we’ll be looking at how that can be achieved today.

“There are strong, strong arguments for the bring forward of over 50s with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is a safe and effective vaccine for those aged over 50 and particularly important for those aged over 70 who are already in that priority group.”

The PM also proposed a “12-week sprint” at the end of the year that would see six million Australians aged under 50 vaccinated.

The 12-week push would be dependent on the federal government receiving its expected delivery of 20 million Pfizer vaccine doses in October, as well as the Norovax vaccine, which is yet to be approved.

RELATED: Worrying trend after blood clot link

Millions of Australians could be vaccinated sooner than originally planned as National Cabinet rally to get our rollout back on track. Picture: Brendan Radke

State and territory leaders agreed during the meeting to consider mass vaccination hubs to supplement the delivery of the vaccine through GPs — which Victoria has already started.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the meeting was “very good” with “very positive discussions” among state and territory leaders.

“We had a very good meeting today in the national cabinet … everybody is on board for how important it is for the vaccination rollout to work and to be successful,” Ms Palaszczuk said.