People aged over 50 could be vaccinated sooner and more mass-vaccination sites opened to speed up the vaccine program, as the first of new bi-weekly national cabinet meetings focuses on the country’s vaccine rollout.
The country’s leaders on Monday will discuss a reset of the vaccination program, including changes to national vaccination strategy and state plans following updated advice from the country’s top immunisation experts on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
People over the age of 50 could be vaccinated sooner as National Cabinet discusses a reset of the vaccine program.Credit:Bloomberg
Quarantine-free travel also resumes with New Zealand on Monday, and discussions are under way with Singapore and the South Pacific about travel bubbles.
For those travelling elsewhere for essential work or important family business including funerals, vaccinated return travellers may be able to quarantine at home from the second half of the year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.
“If we can get in a position in the second half of the year where Australians for essential purposes can travel and return to the country without going into hotel quarantine, if they have been vaccinated, it is a good incentive to get vaccinated,” he said.
State and territory leaders will also discuss new plans for vaccinating aged care and disability support workers and opening more mass-vaccination sites so states can help drive up the number of vaccinations.
Speaking in Adelaide, the Prime Minister said it was not a matter of taking supplies off GPs, but rather boosting supplies to states as more doses arrive in the country.
“I know some states are very interested in supporting larger vaccination programs now for people aged 50 to 70, and we are very open to discussing that with the states and looking forward to that discussion tomorrow,” he said.
“What I stress is that process would be to supplement in addition to what the GPs are doing.”
The timing of the rollout for those aged over 50 will be canvassed in national cabinet, Health Minister Greg Hunt said, as well as how exactly those vaccines would be delivered.
“If states wish to expand their offerings, then that’s an option that is available to them individually,” he said on Sunday. “There is no one-size-fits-all model. Each state and territory will have options going forward.”
Almost 1.5 million vaccine doses have been administered across Australia so far during the rollout, including just over 22,000 on Saturday. More than half of those have been administered through GP clinics, while the states have given out almost 644,000.
Earlier this month, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation updated its vaccine advice to say Pfizer was the preferred vaccine for those under 50, after the AstraZeneca vaccine was linked to a rare but serious blood-clotting side effect.
Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said the Prime Minister must come out of national cabinet with a clear plan for the rest of the rollout that gave more responsibility to the states.
“We need state governments that have the experience and the capability in the mass delivery of healthcare to be a central part of this vaccine rollout,” he said on Sunday.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said the federal government began talks with state and territory health ministers in the past week about setting up and expanding mass-vaccination clinics.
From Wednesday, Victoria will open the doors to its three largest vaccination centres to all eligible people in phase 1a and 1b.
Mr Foley did not say what proposals the state was taking to Monday’s meeting, but said Victoria, like all states, was committed to working collaboratively.
“It’s going to require the Commonwealth to come to the table with a genuine preparedness to get as many vaccines as quickly as possible,” Mr Foley said on Sunday.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said the vaccine rollout was the largest peace-time logistical exercise in Australia’s history, and more work needed to be done to get it right.
“We stand ready as part of this overall recalibration, that we will do at national cabinet this week, to put those mass-vaccination clinics in place, particularly towards the end of year we get those additional Pfizer doses,” he said.
Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Liam O’Brien said it was important that aged care and disability support workers were not forgotten.
“The workers who kept us safe through the worst of the pandemic deserve to know when and how they will receive the vaccines they have been promised by the federal government,” he said.
A move to vaccinating some workers with Pfizer and others with AstraZeneca could mean vaccinating many at state-run hubs, he said.
“This is a private-sector workforce and a huge workforce, shifting them through hubs is going to require a lot of planning and support otherwise we’re going to have issues,” he said.
“Fundamentally it revolves around workers getting quick access, and being supported in terms of paid time off [if they get side effects].”
Rachel Clun is a federal political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, covering health.
Sumeyya is a state political reporter for The Age.
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2021-04-18 10:30:00Z
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