James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please update the House on how Australia's COVID-19 vaccine program is reaching record numbers of Australians, including 1.3 million vaccinated last week?

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

I want to thank the member for Sturt for his advocacy, support and passion for vaccination and for all of the elements of the things that have kept Australians safe during the global pandemic. The member is correct: last week there were 1.33 million vaccinations in Australia. 1.33 million Australians, or almost the entire population of Adelaide, as the Prime Minister said, stepped forward to be vaccinated. We believe it is a record for vaccinations for any week for any form of vaccine in Australian history. That's a testimony to the work of Australians, it's recognition of their commitment to the program and it's recognition that as the supplies increased so too has the capacity of Australians to receive those vaccines.

What that has shown is that they are stepping up; that they are passionate about being vaccinated. Around the world we see the horrors of the pandemic every day. In the last day alone, over 470,000 cases and, again, over 8,000 lives lost. We're seeing these numbers grow again in another global wave of the pandemic driven by the delta variant. Against that background, we know that Australia has not been immune, but that we have been overwhelmingly shielded from so much of the agony that has ravaged the world. As the Prime Minister mentioned, we now have 941 lives lost in Australia, but 30,000 lives have been saved against the OECD average. The things that we have done as a nation have been the rings of containment of borders, testing, tracing, distancing and vaccination.

Right now, in terms of vaccination, we've reached 13.7 million total vaccinations. That's over 9.1 million first vaccinations. What we also see is 4.6 million second vaccinations. Indeed, what we've seen now is well over seven million AstraZeneca vaccinations. I want to thank the member for Maribyrnong, who has been a very strong supporter of the AstraZeneca program. There are others who've taken different views. He's been a strong supporter of that program.

I want to thank all of those who have advocated for this vaccination program. What we are seeing is that we have now passed 75 per cent, or three-quarters, of the over-60s in this nation. We've now passed 81 per cent of the over-70s in this nation. These vaccinations are saving lives and protecting lives. There's more work to be done, but every week more Australians are stepping forward. In the last week alone, a population almost the size of Adelaide was vaccinated. (Time expired)

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The government announced—indeed, promised—that every resident in disability care would be fully vaccinated by Easter. But as of last month fewer than one in five residents in disability care was fully vaccinated. Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for failing to keep his promise to vaccinate all vulnerable residents in disability care by now?

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

I thank the member for Maribyrnong. At this point in time, on the latest advice that I received from the National Incident Room shortly before coming to question time, we have had 17,311 disability residents. That represents approximately 63.6 per cent of residents. In addition to that, the total number of residents who've received second doses is 12,132, or 44.5 per cent of residents.

What I particularly want to do is encourage all of those residents. In particular, I want to encourage their friends and family to support them and to assist with making sure that there's consent, agreement and confidence to accept that vaccination. That is an extremely important part that each and every one of us can play. In addition, with regard to the outreach program to ensure that we are working with those residents, what we have is a program for all of the facilities across Australia.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin is warned.

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

In particular, over 6,000 facilities are to be visited. That program includes vaccination service providers and GPs. We have lifted the Medicare rates for home visits. These elements are in place. In addition, we are seeing the disability hubs play the very important role of providing a service where disability residents, their carers, their workers or their families are able to ensure that they are provided with that support.

I would note one very important fact, and that is that the loss of life amongst disability residents in Australia is less than the average of the loss of life for all Australians. It has been one of our singular national achievements. There are many, many people around Australia to be thanked for that, but we want to thank all of those carers and workers and all of those who've assisted with the vaccination program.

As the Prime Minister has reminded me, it's the same with Indigenous Australians. These two groups were part of our awareness from the outset. Disability and Indigenous Australians have overwhelmingly been able to be kept safe. These results have meant those communities have been even more protected than the average in Australia, and that's something for which we are thankful and grateful.