Economic royalty calls on Australian to get vaccinated to avoid damaging virus outbreaks

Health secretary Brendan Murphy appears at Senate estimates at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

Australia’s economic policy royalty have provided a clear warning about the threat that further outbreaks of Covid-19 pose to a stunningly good recovery. Naturally, the message to their subjects is simple: hurry up and get vaccinated.

While politicians tussle about whether the vaccine rollout is a race or not, and drag officials into the sideshow, the lockdown in Victoria is a teachable moment that’s not lost on doctors Phil and Steven

As expected, on Tuesday the Reserve Bank kept interest rates at 0.1 per cent, with governor Philip Lowe noting: “The economic recovery in Australia is stronger than earlier expected and is forecast to continue.”

In case folks were watching Victoria and wondering what’s to be done, Lowe added: “An important ongoing source of uncertainty is the possibility of significant outbreaks of the virus, although this should diminish as more of the population is vaccinated.”

Earlier in the day, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy told Senate estimates that our economic recovery “is well under way and running ahead of expectations”, but warned: “We must constantly check ourselves and we cannot take our recovery for granted. The emergence of new variants, the continuation of outbreaks in several other countries, and the outbreak in Victoria are a stark reminder that the pandemic is far from over.

“To secure the economic recovery, it is of utmost importance that Australians get vaccinated when their turn comes … to help reduce the health and economic risks of future outbreaks and, when safe, enable us to open our international borders.”

Supply is not an issue, and hasn’t been for perhaps two months. CSL has cranked up its output of the AstraZeneca vaccine to more than a million weekly doses, while about 350,000 imported Pfizer doses are approved each week.

In the past two weeks, 1.8 million doses have been made “available”, meaning delivered at a vaccination site and ready for use. Reflecting increased GP capacity and state-operated hubs, more than 1.1 million jabs have been administered during weeks 13 and 14 of the rollout.

As of Monday morning, taking into account a wastage rate of 10 per cent, there were more than 1.5 million doses “in the fridge” at sites, with 750,000 doses in transit for delivery.

As Health Department officials told senators on Tuesday, “hesitancy” – with surveys suggesting as many as one-third of adults are “not at all likely” or “not very likely” to be vaccinated – may not mean aversion. It may simply be a “no rush” complacency.

Outbreaks, like the current one in Melbourne, change the urgency equation. On Friday and Monday, about 41,000 Victorians were vaccinated. Before the lockdown, the state was recording 30,000 daily jabs.

Kennedy and Lowe echoed the advice from the OECD, which says: “The top policy priority is to ensure all resources necessary are used to produce and fully deploy vaccinations as quickly as possible.”