General John Frewen led campaign to defeat viral enemy

From Rwanda to Afghanistan, Lieutenant General John James Frewen’s 40-year career in the Australian Army has seen him enter conflicts across the world.

Lieutenant General John Frewen. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

From Rwanda to Afghanistan, Lieutenant General John James Frewen’s 40-year career in the Australian Army has seen him enter conflicts across the world.

Yet after decades of training and fighting for freedom and democracy, General Frewen, who has been made an officer of the Order of Australia, in 2021 found himself facing an ­altogether unexpected enemy.

Covid-19 had gripped Australia and the wider world for more than a year, with no end in sight for the once-in-a-century pandemic that sent civilisation into a tailspin.

Until the vaccine. Immunis­ations against Covid became available at the end of 2020 along with hopes to leave the pandemic in our collective rear view mirrors.

In many ways, however, it was only the beginning. Supply, side ­effects and anti-vax misinformation collided in a maelstrom that overwhelmed the Morrison government and prompted them to call in reinforcements, in the form of General Frewen.

Leaving his role as the head of operation Covid assist, which compromised Defence personnel helping with border and quarantine management, he was appointed to head the National Covid Vaccination Task Force in June 2021. “When called to serve, you serve,” he told the Australian.

He was given the monumental task of vaccinating Australia’s population, with fewer than 30 per cent of eligible adults having had their first dose when he took on the role. “The laser-like focus was on how to make it go faster,” he said. “Public confidence in the rollout was critical.”

General Frewen spearheaded the public campaign encouraging Australians to get the jab, but said the slogan “arm yourselves” wasn’t his idea.

“The whole Covid pandemic was a very challenging situation, decisions had to be made in very uncertain circumstances,” he said.

“I think a reading of recent history will say we fared far better than many, many, many countries.

“You can’t get every decision right along the way in these things, but we did pretty well.”

He said misinformation about the vaccine had been a challenge. “In some communities where these mes­sages were being pushed, they were having a dramatic impact on community willingness to get vaccinated. That was really concerning, with Indigenous communities in particular.”

General Frewen, who left the country with a double-dose vaccination rate of about 90 per cent in August last year, has since become chief of joint capabilities.