Pfizer supplies need to be ‘managed’

The man leading the logistics of Australia’s vaccine rollout says Pfizer stocks will need to be managed carefully for now.

Australia’s Pfizer stocks will need to be carefully managed for at least a month as states demand more doses, federal authorities say.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison held an urgent meeting of the national cabinet on Monday after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) advised against the AstraZeneca jab being administered to people aged under 60.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Acting Victorian Premier Merlino both took aim at the federal government before the talks, claiming supply issues were hampering the national rollout.

Covid-19 Task Force commander Lieutenant General John Frewen said the nation’s stockpile of the Pfizer vaccine, now preferred for people aged between 50 and 59, needed to be carefully managed.

“We are still in a resource-constrained environment we need to carefully manage. But on current forecasts, we are looking forward to ramp up availability of Pfizer through August into September and into October,” he said.

He expected better supply flows from then, when authorities would “be able to allocate that more freely”.

“But for now, we have to manage the resources that we’ve got against the highest priorities we’ve got,” he said.

Covid-19 Task Force commander Lieutenant General John Frewen says Australia’s Pfizer stocks need to be managed carefully. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Authorities revealed NSW’s request for an additional 50,000 Pfizer doses had been approved before national cabinet.

The federal government has claimed states had underordered, but Lieutenant Frewen said the issue “wasn’t discussed” during the talks.

“The states and territories didn’t make any specific requests for dosing today at national cabinet,” he said.

“What I did do was to issue the planning parameters of the likely lowest allocations and highest allocations the states and territories can expect right out to the end of the year.

“Previously they hadn’t had that information available. I committed to them to get that detail; we have that detail now.”

The comments came hours after Mr Merlino blasted the national rollout as a “mess” and demanded the federal government increase supply.

The commonwealth has increased the number of doses allocated to Victoria from 71,370 per week in June to 83,070 in July, while an additional 200,000 will be sent to GPs across the state.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino has lashed the rollout as a ‘mess’. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling

Victoria has also been the main beneficiary of a new emergency payment, partly funded by the commonwealth, for people stuck in Covid-enforced lockdown.

But Mr Merlino dismissed the figures as “spin”, blasting the rollout as a “mess” and demanding Canberra show a “sense of urgency” in ramping up supply.

“When you hear how Australia is going compared with the rest of the world, we are falling so far behind it’s not funny,” he told reporters on Monday.

“What we need to see out of national cabinet today, and for the rest of the year, is a sense of urgency and acknowledgment that this is a race.”

Mr Merlino welcomed the appointment of Lieutenant Frewen to head the national Covid-19 Task Force. He has been tasked with recalibrating the increasingly Pfizer-dependent rollout.

Scott Morrison wants to avoid ‘argy bargy’ with the states over Australia’s vaccine rollout. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

“God knows we need someone to sort out the mess in Canberra,” Mr Merlino said.

“We need people to get vaccinated. The higher the proportion of your population that is vaccinated, the better options there are for public health advice in terms of how we get through this pandemic.”

Mr Morrison, who was undergoing quarantine in Canberra after returning from a trip to the G7, claimed a “lot of progress is being made”, with more than 60 per cent of people aged over 70 having received their first dose.

Additional Pfizer doses will be sent to the states and territories in July, and Mr Morrison insisted “close work” would continue as Australia adapted to the new advice.

“There’s no need for argy bargy about it. We’ll just get on work together, which is what I think people expect state and commonwealth governments to do,” he told 2GB Radio on Monday.