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

In relation to aged-care staff, at this stage the latest advice I have is that there've been 158,204 first vaccinations, or 57.5 per cent of the workforce; 102,771, or 37.3 per cent, of the workforce; or 260,975 all up. As the Prime Minister said, in relation to the very constructive work we've been able to do with all states and territories, on 28 June 2021 national cabinet met and agreed to mandate that at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine be administered by mid-September 2021. That work has been carried on, on 28 July and on 4 August, in discussions by the Aged Care Advisory Group of the medical expert panel, the AHPPC. On 2 August the AHPPC approved and published the guidelines on mandatory vaccination of residential aged-care workers, which were then published on 3 August. That's publicly available. AHPPC has been meeting daily, and this has been raised on multiple occasions and on the advice of the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, to me today; and on 10 August, following the Western Australian public health order, there was further discussion at the AHPPC. Indeed, the Western Australian Chief Health Officer only yesterday published the Residential Aged Care Facility Worker Access Directions. It has also been raised in health ministers' meetings as a matter, and what we're seeing is all states and territories making very good progress not just with the vaccinations but also with the orders. We thank Western Australia for their work. We thank all the states and territories for their cooperation.

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