States, feds in row over Pfizer supply crisis

Biggest states say they’ll have to cut the number vaccines they administer because of a lack of Pfizer supply.

Medical staff at the Melbourne Showgrounds Covid-19 vaccine hub on Monday. Picture: Aaron Francis

The nation’s biggest states say they will have to cut the number of Covid-19 vaccines they administer because of a lack of Pfizer supply from the commonwealth, with Queensland warning it may have to abandon the vaccination of new patients by the end of July.

Health officials in Victoria and Queensland say they will have to “ramp down” to around 40,000 doses if more supply is not made available, while the NSW government on Monday expressed concern about a lack of doses.

“We’re limited in that we can’t control supply, we can’t control the doses we get from the commonwealth,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

From the start of July, Victoria expects to be able to provide 40,000 first doses per week instead of the 80,000 doses being administered until recently.

In Queensland — where 81,000 Pfizer doses were administered last week — the government expects to dramatically reduce the number of vaccinations. “There will come a point where we run out,” Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath told The Australian.

“I suspect we will have to start pulling back on first vaccinations to make sure we have enough for everyone to receive their second dose.”

Queensland is allocated to receive 54,990 Pfizer doses each week in June, rising to 64,350 each week in July, figures show.

The Morrison government’s Covid-19 taskforce commander, Lieutenant-General John Frewen, on Monday conceded the rollout was a “resource-constrained environment” with Pfizer deliveries expected to increase in August.

But federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s office disputes that there has been a reduction in supply, and said the state’s allocation of Pfizer had only increased.

There were 161,360 Pfizer vaccines sitting in Queensland fridges ready to be administered, a spokesman said on Monday.

Ms D’Ath said there would come a point where the state “runs out”.

“We are doing 81,000 now and we still have a few sites opening so that will not cover our full second dose,” she said. “It certainly won’t provide for the first dose once we get rid of all the stock on hand.”

But federal health officials said the states were responsible for their vaccination programs, and had been given “full forward allocations” to plan distribution.

“The commonwealth delivers all first-dose allocations to states and territories, with matching second-dose allocations delivered three weeks after first doses are administered,” a spokesman for Mr Hunt said.

“This ensures that states and territories receive the second doses for administration as per the 21-day timing recommended by the medical experts … “ (Mr Hunt) wrote to all states and territories to ensure they are booking in and budgeting for second doses at the same time as first doses.”

Lieutenant Frewen said that as supply increased, health authorities would be able to allocate stocks “more freely”, but for now would have to “manage the resources that we’ve got against the highest priorities we’ve got”.

Victoria’s Covid-19 co-ordinator, Jeroen Weimar, said a shortfall in Pfizer supply would effectively halve the amount of first doses administered in July.

“We will have to ramp down to around 40,000 first doses from the beginning of July, in line with the schedule we have,” he said.

Mr Weimar said Victoria could administer double the number of first Pfizer jabs if they were available, after news a revised commonwealth jab timetable meant only 40,000 first doses could be delivered per week from July instead of about 80,000.

“If there is an extra 40,000 doses available a week we would absolutely take them because we can put them into people’s arms now,” he said on Monday.

The recalibration of the vaccine rollout was at the heart of an urgent meeting of the national cabinet on Monday after the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised against the AstraZeneca jab being administered to people aged under 60.

The Morrison government announced it would give NSW an additional 50,000 doses as the state deals with an outbreak in Sydney, with Pfizer doses allocated to the states and territories based on population sizes, except in instances of Covid-19 clusters.

The federal government has previously said states under-ordered vaccines, although Lieutenant Frewen said that “wasn’t discussed” during the meeting.

“What I did do was to issue the planning parameters of the likely lowest allocations and highest allocations the states and territories can expect right out to the end of the year,” he said.

Ms Berejiklian has also warned supply was an issue.

“NSW highlighted the need to increase the capacity of the GP network,” she said of the national cabinet meeting. “We need more GPs and health clinics on board. We remain with a sense of urgency to the vaccine rollout. We can’t control the supply.”

The Prime Minister, who is in quarantine after returning from an overseas trip to attend the G7 Summit in Cornwall, said the commonwealth was fast-tracking plans to expand the number of access points for Pfizer.

“By the end of July, all 136 Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics, 40 ACCHS and 1300 GPs will be administering Pfizer,” he said in a statement. “Many more primary care providers will be offered the chance to administer mRNA vaccines as the supply of Pfizer significantly increases and the first supplies of Moderna arrive in September/October.”

Mr Weimar confirmed ATAGI’s decision last week to recommend Pfizer for those eligible under the age of 60 had increased pressure on supplies.

“The revised guidance from ATAGI makes more Victorians eligible for the Pfizer-only vaccine and that’s where the real pressure is at the moment,” he said.