Covid-19 lingers, with $1bn to keep fighting

Labor has made an ongoing investment into vaccine boosters and antivirals as it attempts to safeguard the population from severe disease.

The federal government is focusing its investment on vaccination targeting, particularly within the elderly population.

Free Covid-19 vaccine boosters and more spending on antivirals form the bulk of an ongoing billion-dollar investment to protect the population from severe disease.

More than $1bn across the next two years has been allocated for ongoing Covid-19 measures after last year’s first Labor budget and the last budget of the Morrison government left future Covid-19 provisions unfunded.

National Partnership Payments to the states are set to drop by a forecast $500m a year within four years as the pandemic recedes, putting more pressure on the states whose hospitals are still catering to large numbers of Covid-19 patients without extra funds from the federal government.

The federal government is now focusing its investment on vaccination targeting, in particular the elderly, with $757.4m allocated over the next two years for vaccine administration via community pharmacies, Primary Health Networks and the Vaccine Administration Partnership Program. It is spending $160.2m up until mid-2024 on vaccine procurement and logistics.

Pharmacies will deliver many of the Covid-19 shots.

They have been allocated $114.1m over five years to administer eligible National Immunisation Program vaccines, including Covid-19 jabs.

The federal government will also subsidise 50 per cent of the cost of PCR tests carried out by state governments for priority groups, as well as half of the cost of Covid-19 jabs delivered by state clinics for people at highest risk of sickness and death.

The PCR testing will be funded via an extension of a special Medicare Benefits Schedule item at a cost of $250.5m across the next two years.

Almost $100m will be spent on promoting the vaccines to priority groups and the government will prepare for future pandemics with $43m going towards public health technology infrastructure.

The Healthdirect service’s Living with Covid program will be extended to the end of the year and $800m will be spent on screening for myocarditis for those who may have experienced an adverse vaccine reaction.