Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

To add to the Prime Minister's answer, the very simple response is that yesterday 72,000 Australians were vaccinated; today, 76,000 Australians; and in the last week we had 402,000—a record number. What we are seeing is those numbers increasing. Over the course of the year, we expect to have 40 million Pfizer vaccines in Australia. All of these things are, of course, dependent—as Treasury note—on the ability of these vaccines to arrive in the country. Our expectation is that those vaccines will be available, that that supply will be available. We are seeing this week a million CSL vaccines being made available. Some have to be provisioned for contingency, for second doses, but we are distributing approximately 900,000 doses this week.

We are ensuring that, over the course of the year, we do have supply for all Australians to have the opportunity to be vaccinated. What that does is give us greater security and greater protection as a nation. The most fundamental of all assumptions within the budget with regard to COVID is that Australia continues to be safe. Of all of the elements, that is the one with the most significant importance. We are now, on the advice I have today, at 83 days with zero cases of community transmission. So that assumption looks as if it is going to be a very strong assumption. What we see from that and what we see in relation to the capacity to supply enough vaccines for every Australian who chooses to have that opportunity over the course of the year is that they remain strong and clear.

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