Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please update the House on how the Q3 ramp-up of the vaccine rollout is helping to protect lives across Australia, including in my home state of New South Wales?

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

I thank the member for Wentworth for his question and also for the support of his constituents and people in Greater Sydney at this moment in time. We know, as the Prime Minister has said, that over a quarter of a million Australians were vaccinated in 24 hours. This is the first time that that mark has been reached, we believe, in this nation's history and certainly during the course of the pandemic. The figure of 255,900 Australians is approximately the population of Geelong—in one day. It's almost the population of Wollongong—in one day. That gives the House a sense of the number of Australians who are stepping forward, who are being vaccinated. And, over the last week, it is 1.4 million Australians, 200,000 a day as the Prime Minister has said, well more than the population of Adelaide—in one week.

What does it mean? It means that the ramp-up is occurring precisely as we set out to do during Q3, during the third quarter. The reason why is that we have gone from 700,000 vaccines a week in mid-June to 1.4 million vaccines—and this week we have distributed two million vaccinations to the nation. It includes the fact that we have had over 1.2 million Pfizer vaccines arrive—more than we have previously said would be the case, because we have been able to work quietly and successfully to bring those vaccines forward. All of these things are coming forward to save lives and protect lives.

The member, of course, has immense international experience. He would be painfully aware that whether it is in Israel, which is seeing very high case numbers; whether it is in the United States, where they have had over 700,000 cases in a week; whether it is in the UK, which saw over 140 lives lost in the last 24 hours; or around the world, with 600,000 cases and 11,000 lives lost in one day, a global pandemic is raging. And we have our challenges at home—profound and real and significant—but that comparison with what we see abroad reminds us that there is a pandemic across the world which is ravaging lives and having an impact on society unlike anything we have seen in peacetime since the Spanish flu.

This vaccine program continues to ramp up. We now have almost 82 per cent of over-70s, we now have almost 70 per cent of over-50s and, together, 14.2 million vaccinations have been delivered to Australians. So there are great challenges, but these vaccines are saving lives and protecting lives. They are working on the fact that we have contained the virus by comparison with what we have seen around the world. We're not immune, but we have a plan which is saving lives and protecting lives. (Time expired)

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. COVID-affected areas from Mount Druitt to Blacktown need walk-in vaccination hubs to boost vaccination rates in vulnerable communities. When the New South Wales Premier was asked about this, this week, she indicated she wanted to set up these hubs but needed more vaccines from the Morrison-Joyce government. If the Prime Minister had just done his job, wouldn't the vaccine hubs in our communities, that we are calling for, be available now?

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

I thank the member for Chifley. I would note that, to date, 4.6 million vaccines have been delivered in New South Wales. Just in the last 24 hours, off the back of the additional supplies which the government has made available—200,000 additional doses of Pfizer, coupled with the bringing forward of over 180,000 doses—New South Wales has administered a record number of vaccines. There have been 106,000 vaccinations given in New South Wales in the last 24 hours. In particular, that includes 30,000 from the state vaccination clinics and 76,000 from our GPs and our pharmacists. I want to note the role of pharmacies. On Monday there were 7,777 doses delivered by pharmacies, yesterday there were over 9,000 and all up there have been over 56,000. These doses are increasing every day, particularly across New South Wales, particularly across Sydney, particularly across Western Sydney. We have 321 pharmacies delivering vaccines in New South Wales, and that will grow to 584 in New South Wales by the end of this week. So we're seeing a significant increase in vaccines, and that's leading to a significant increase in vaccinations. New South Wales, at this point in time, as I say, has seen 106,000 vaccinations in the last 24 hours.

What we are also doing is making sure that across the country, but in particular in New South Wales, we not only have new GPs coming on board, we not only have the pharmacies coming on board, we also have the over 380,000 additional doses which have gone to New South Wales, which have been driving the state vaccination increase and uptake. That had previously been close to a maximum of 20,000 doses a day, then 25,000 and then, yesterday, 30,000. It was a record day in primary care. Over 163,000 doses were delivered in primary care around Australia, and matched in New South Wales. So, ultimately, I want to thank every Australian for coming forward. But I say to all members of this House that this is our chance to be encouraging all of our constituents to come forward; to be encouraging people, when they're eligible, to take that opportunity. We have almost 82 per cent of our over-70s, but every person who is over 70 years of age has access to a vaccine now. That option is with them. So it's up to each of us to work with our communities, to encourage our parents and our grandparents to encourage them to come forward, to take that opportunity to save their lives and to protect their lives.