Tech ‘left out’ of Covid attack plan

‘Urgent need’ for dedicated tech industry representative to be appointed to the working group responsible for rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine.

Technology will provide a crucial binding role in the vaccine roll out. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The peak body for Australia’s IT industry has written an urgent letter to federal Health Minister Greg Hunt calling for a dedicated tech industry representative to be appointed to the working group responsible for rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine, amid concerns technology represents a looming blind spot for the government and a lack of expertise might jeopardise a successful vaccination program.

The Australian Information Industry Association represents the likes of Telstra, Apple, Salesforce and Amazon Web Services, and its chief executive Ron Gauci told The Australian that tech had been overlooked in the planning of Australia’s imminent vaccine rollout.

He said that technology will provide a crucial binding role in the roll out, and that with states and territories responsible for the administration within their own jurisdictions, Mr Hunt’s working group needs to provide a national system that can streamline the process so it can be successful.

The working group currently has nine executive members and two dozen members overall, including infectious disease specialists and Department of Health representatives, but no IT experts.

“We want to emphasise the importance of this. If this was war time, then you’d bring all the experts to the table,” Mr Gauci said. “And this is a war against the virus, and we’re recommending that the next stage of how we address this virus with the vaccine is that the level of expertise is necessary means we need a technology expert in the room.”

Tech has already proved pivotal in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, including Victoria‘s recent deployment of Salesforce and Whispir contact tracing software, though the federal government’s CovidSafe mobile app has faced sustained criticism for only identifying 17 close contacts to date.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The first jabs of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are scheduled for early March, and the AIIA is calling on the federal government to co-ordinate vaccine supply chain management; booking systems for those seeking vaccination; the recording of vaccinations; monitoring outcomes, side effects, and issuing early-stage safety alerts; vaccine online/e-certificates and rapid end-to-end reporting.

“The AIIA is concerned that the current separate sourcing of ICT software and systems by states and territories not only places a duplicative burden on our members, but also risks a disjointed approach nationally leading to less effective vaccination program,” Mr Gauci said in the letter to Mr Hunt.

“As such, we recommend that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation Covid-19 Working Group include a digital expert. While vaccination clinical policy and guidelines are co-ordinated nationally through a committee and the National Health and Medical Research Council, the AIIA is aware that supply chain management, vaccination logistics, administration and optimisation of vaccine resources are handled by each state and territory respectively.”

Ron Gauci.

Mr Gauci, a former Telstra and Microsoft executive, added that it is highly likely a wide range of employers, businesses, schools, universities and others will seek to secure urgent vaccinations for their staff, clients and students. He said while a substantial share of the ordering is done online, a significant amount of ordering still takes place via phone call, facsimile and email, putting strain on old systems.

“Look at the complexity here. And we can’t afford to get this wrong,” he said. ”This is the one opportunity we get, we get one go. So if we were to pull apart the complexities involved in this whole process, let along the complexities added by the sheer number of stakeholders and number of local authorities involved, the probability of things going wrong is reduced dramatically by having the right people at the table.”

The Health Minister’s office was contacted for comment.