Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Will the minister update the House on the latest swine flu developments and any steps the government has taken to protect the community from the disease?

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Shortland for her question. She is always interested in steps that can be taken to protect the community. Obviously the Prime Minister and I went through a number of steps that the government has already taken to tackle this problem in question time yesterday, but there are some further developments today that I would like to keep the House abreast of. Before I do that, I advise that we now have 103 confirmed swine flu cases in Australia. The number has jumped significantly overnight. In the course of that time we have also seen the number of new cases increase, for example, in the United States by a thousand and in Canada by an additional 200. The disease has got to a point where the numbers are increasing fairly significantly around the country and we can expect, unfortunately, to see more of that in the coming days.

I advise the House that there is a significant change to a number of circumstances that members might need to be aware of. Whilst most of the 103 people who have been confirmed as having swine flu have been experiencing mild symptoms, we do now have four people who have been hospitalised—two in Victoria who presented with quite severe conditions but who are both recovering well, one young man in New South Wales whose condition is improving and one case where we still do not have confirmed details as there seem to be other unrelated complications with that person’s circumstances.

There has also been a lot of focus on the situation of the cruise ship Pacific Dawn that has been up in Northern Queensland. In addition to the comments that I made earlier, I can advise that the Queensland government and P&O have now announced that an agreement has been reached for the ship to dock in Brisbane on Saturday and return to Sydney on Monday—three days early. This agreement has been reached in order to ensure that passengers can still spend some of their time having their holiday safely on the boat and can get support, if any is required, at these two major ports. Three crew members have tested positive to swine flu. They have all been receiving Tamiflu from the commencement of the trip and do not believe, as I have been advised, that they have been in contact with other passengers. No passengers have currently tested positive to swine flu, and P&O do advise that passengers will be compensated for the shortening of their trip. We obviously thank P&O for their cooperative actions and, of course, want to join them in apologising to passengers whose holidays might have been disrupted. I think the public health advice to ensure that this disease, which is not yet in Northern Queensland, can be isolated for as long as possible from parts of the community that do not have any cases.

The government has taken an important step to further protect the community today. We have placed an order with CSL for the purchase of the swine flu vaccine. This vaccine is expected to be developed in the next couple of months. We have a priority agreement with CSL which has been activated, and this means that we will be placed high in the queue to be able to receive this vaccine once it is able to be produced by CSL. We have placed an order for the purchase of sufficient doses for 10 million people. That is based on the current expert advice that this is sufficient to contain the spread of the disease and also to protect those at risk of any complications. Of course, further work will continue while the vaccine is being developed as we have further evidence in Australia of particular groups that might be more vulnerable.

CSL is currently working fast to develop the vaccine. It will need to do clinical trials. It will register with the TGA to ensure that the vaccine is safe. In the past fortnight, we have also purchased an additional 1.6 million courses of Rolenza for the stockpile, which means that we are building on our existing supply in the stockpile. We will have 6.9 million courses of Tamiflu, 1.8 million courses of Rolenza and the additional purchases that I have just announced—meaning that we will have 10.3 million courses of antivirals in our stockpile. I advise that the first requests for Tamiflu have been made by the states and territories and that the first release of Tamiflu from the national medical stockpile has commenced. The Chief Medical Officer authorised the release of 7½ thousand doses of paediatric Tamiflu suspension for Victoria and Western Australia and 10,000 packets of Tamiflu to Victoria. This is of particular importance because the paediatric version needs to be used for very young children. In Victoria, where we are seeing the disease spreading more quickly than in other communities, that is to ensure that they will have a sufficient supply. I understand that Western Australia did not have a large supply of paediatric Tamiflu and, although they have only one case confirmed, they wanted to make sure that they had some on hand if the situation develops.

We will continue to consider requests as they come in. We have already taken steps to ensure that the stockpile is not being held just in Canberra but that it can be readily made available to state and territory authorities, if and when they need them. The Chief Medical Officer will take account of the different circumstances in different parts of the country in making a decision whether the stockpile should be used and will look at the number of cases, the spread, the epidemiological advice and the availability of medicines in the states and territories.

These medicines will be dispensed by state public health officials in line with agreed national guidelines. It is important to remember that this means that Australia is very well placed to handle this situation. The community does need to be prepared for the fact that there will be an increased number of cases, probably significant, in the coming few days. Members can continue to give support to the public by reminding them that there is no need to be alarmed but there is certainly a need to be vigilant. It is important to provide advice to people to see their medical professional if they are experiencing any flu symptoms, particularly if they have travelled to countries at risk or believe they have been in contact with any confirmed cases.