Scott Morrison rubbishes Jacqui Lambie’s claims government bought ‘cheap’ vaccine

Scott Morrison has been asked whether Australia’s rollout could cost him the election, and was annoyed when relayed criticism from firebrand Jacqui Lambie during a breakfast TV interview.

Scott Morrison insists Australia’s vaccine rollout costing him the election is “the last thing on his mind” as he rubbished suggestions the government had “took the cheap option” on AstraZeneca.

The country’s rollout has been hampered by supply issues in Europe and damaging medical advice against younger people taking the AstraZeneca jab.

With NSW battling to contain the highly contagious Delta variant, Today host Karl Stefanovic pressed the prime minister on potential consequences at the next election.

“If the public believes this rollout has been too slow, too mistake-ridden, will it cost you the next election?” he asked.

RELATED: NSW records 11 new Covid cases as experts push for a lockdown

Mr Morrison received his Covid-19 vaccinations earlier this year. Picture: Bianca De Marchi / NCA NewsWire

“That is the last thing on my mind, Karl. I’m just simply doing everything we can to save lives and livelihoods,” he replied.

“It had its challenges on the AstraZeneca vaccine because of the medical advice, and we’ve responded to that and we’ve ramped up the vaccination program.

“So it’s just important that we just get on with it. I’ll leave the politics to others.”

But Labor frontbencher Tony Burke said the spread of the Delta variant had undermined Mr Morrison’s claim the vaccination rollout was “not a race”, saying the sluggish rollout had endangered Sydneysiders.

“The Delta strain spreads in a very different way than the other strains, and the complacency from the government on the vaccine rollout, thinking they had all the time in the world, is directly connected to what people in Sydney are going through right now,” he told Sky News on Thursday.

“The (NSW) Premier’s made this clear: if the vaccine had been rolled out at the pace that it had originally been spoken about, we would be in a very different situation right now in Sydney.”

Mr Morrison also blasted claims from independent senator Jacqui Lambie that the government had taken the “cheap option” by focusing on AstraZeneca.

“That is rubbish. It is (cost) $7 billion; that is not cheap in anybody‘s language,” he said.

Mr Stefanovic interjected: “Cheaper than Pfizer, though.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie at Parliament House, Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage / NCA NewsWire

Morrison defended the government’s spending on Covid-19 vaccines. Originally, the government purchased more than 50 million doses of AstraZeneca, the majority of which have been produced in Australia.

The government also originally purchased 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine but has significantly increased that volume since concerns over the AstraZeneca link with rare blood clotting caused disruptions in its rollout.

“I mean, the Commonwealth has invested over $310 billion in supporting Australia through this pandemic in health and economic measures,” Mr Morrison said.

“That is more than twice what all the states and territories have done together combined, and more. So (the government) has spared no effort in protecting the lives and livelihoods of Australians.”

Appearing on Today, Tasmania’s Ms Lambie said, “From being part of that Covid committee the other day (my question) was, ‘Why did you get us the budget shot?’ It was cheaper. That is worrying because I have to ask what is our worth to the prime minister and they will still not give a direct answer whether they purchased the AstraZeneca because it was cheaper than the Pfizer and that is terribly, terribly worrying.”

Speaking before Thursday’s update of 11 further positive cases in NSW – bringing the total number of cases linked to Sydney’s outbreak to 48 – Mr Morrison said he was “very confident” in NSW’s ability to bring the outbreak under control.

“Well obviously (I’m) concerned (about Sydney), but also very confident in the ability of NSW Government, which they have demonstrated time and again in dealing with these situations,” he told 7 News in another breakfast TV interview.

“I think that the restrictions that they‘ve put in place are understandable and common sense and I commend premier Berejiklian for resisting going into a full lockdown.”