Coronavirus: 95 per cent of Australians will need to take up Covid vaccine, says Scott Morrison

He would like a 95 per cent take-up, but amid promising news about a vaccine being closer, the PM won’t mandate people taking it.

Scott Morrison wants 95 per cent of Australians to have taken up a coronavirus vaccine by early next year, but has promised it will not be compulsory.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said it should be as “mandatory as possible” and taken by everyone unless they had a medical exemption.

But by the afternoon, Mr Morrison said he had no power to make Australians take the vaccine, and would only introduce measures meant to encourage people to get immunised.

“It’s not going to be compulsory to get the vaccine. There are no compulsory vaccines in Australia,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio.

“What we want to achieve is as much vaccination as we possibly can.

“There will be encouragement and measures to get as high a rate as accepting as usual.”

Vaccine deal

After signing a letter of intent with British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, the Prime Minister outlined how a vaccine rollout in Australia would work, with health workers and the elderly likely to get any COVID-19 protection first.

But the lack of a signed and paid deal with AstraZeneca has led to Labor accusing Mr Morrison of “spin”, and he had to clarify later in the day that any “mandatory as possible” vaccine would not be forced upon Australians.

Mr Morrison on Monday said the only reason anyone should not get the vaccine is if they have a medical exemption.

“We’ve got to get to 95 per cent … I would make it as mandatory as you could possibly make it,” he told Melbourne’s 3AW radio.

“There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis.

“We’re talking about a pandemic which has destroyed the global economy and taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and 430 Australians here.”

“The government hasn’t made a decision … I was the minister that established No Jab, No Play. My position is pretty clear on this and not for turning.”

But on Wednesday afternoon he clarified that he would only bring in measures to “encourage” high immunisation rates.

Mr Morrison said the vaccine rollout – should the British vaccine candidate work – would be a federally run program and, while everyone would get it for free, he would follow medical advice on who should be inoculated first.

“Obvious candidates would be health workers, those working in aged care facilities, things like that, as well as more vulnerable parts of the community,” he said.

“We’d be moving very quickly. That’s why I think we’d be in place early next year and the production process would take a month or two, I’m told.

“But as soon as … we get the recipe, we’ll be making it.”

The government is likely to incentivise the take-up of the vaccine along the lines of the “No Jab, No Play” policy for schoolchildren.

Acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly said in Sydney the first phase of the rollout would be voluntary and he expected “thousands” to want any successful drug. More mandatory take-up would be considered after that.

“The first will be a voluntary call for people and I’m sure there will be long queues – socially distanced, of course – for this vaccine. It will be incredibly welcomed by many,” Professor Kelly said in Sydney.

Opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen said the current deal with AstraZeneca was not as advanced as with other European and Asian countries, and accused Mr Morrison of playing politics during the pandemic.

“The government says it’s not yet time to sign agreements with AstraZeneca. But other countries have. US has, UK has, Japan has, India has, Brazil has, South Korea has,” he said.

“When the Prime Minister says Australians will have first access to this vaccine he is simply not telling the truth. Other governments have acted.”