‘Really did erode trust’: Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth apologises over Covid-19 pandemic

The apology follows a major report into Australia’s response to the pandemic that found trust in vaccination programs has declined.

Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth has issued an apology following the release of a report into Australia’s Covid-19 response.

The final report into Australia’s large-scale Covid-19 response has warned the government that it needs to “rebuild trust” with the public, with “many of the measures taken during Covid-19 unlikely to be accepted by the population again”.

Co-authored by former NSW Health director general Robyn Kruk, epidemiologist Catherine Bennett and health economist Angela Jackson, the report found vaccine immunity for diseases has waned, with jab rates for many diseases – including Covid – falling since the pandemic.

This in turn had increased the risk of “co-occurring outbreaks that would overrun the healthcare system”, the report found.

Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth has issued an apology following a report into Australia's Covid-19 response. Picture: Today.

Dr Coatsworth said having people lose jobs over vaccine mandates “really did erode trust” while speaking on Today on Wednesday morning.

“So this is this is a real issue for Australia because you don’t need 10 per cent of people to lose trust in your vaccine program for it to be a problem, it only needs to be somewhere between 1 and 5 per cent,” Dr Coatsworth said.

“When we – I’m looking at myself here because I was part of this apparatus – were pushing vaccine mandates and people were losing their jobs because they weren’t taking the vaccine, that really did erode trust.”

Apologising to Australians, Dr Coatsworth expressed hope of rebuilding trust in childhood vaccination programs.

“I think if there’s if there’s one thing that we take from this very lengthy report, and I think I’ve done it on this show, even apologise for, Karl (host Karl Stefanovic), to the people who lost their jobs because of vaccine mandates,” he said.

“And if we start by doing that, if more people than just me perhaps say that, then we can start the road to rebuilding trust amongst those people that no longer maybe even have trust in our childhood vaccination program.

“But what I can say as an infectious disease physician is that we have a wonderful childhood immunisation program, and I want to be part of rebuilding that trust.”

The report found vaccination rates for many diseases had declined. Picture: Tony McDonough / NCA NewsWire,

The report urged federal and state health ministers to implement a “national strategy” to address the “broad decline in Covid-19 vaccination”, especially for priority cohorts.

The response would also include targeted deadlines and a push to lift early childhood vaccination rates for communicable diseases to pre-pandemic levels.

The report also firmly backed the creation of an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC), which has been established on an interim basis.

On Tuesday, the government also announced it would commit $251.7m to deliver a Canberra-based CDC, which is expected to be launched on January 1, 2026, pending legislation.

The report added the government agency would need to become “trusted and authoritative on risk assessment and communication” and a key source of national communicable disease data.