Jason Falinski (Mackellar, 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 Australia's COVID-19 vaccines and treatment strategy?

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 Mackellar for his question. I know that he has supported his community through some of the most difficult and challenging lockdowns that the world has seen and that Australia has seen. What we do know in particular—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The members for Newcastle and Macarthur will cease interjecting.

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

What we know in particular is that the global pandemic continues unabated; in fact, numbers are climbing globally. There's a rolling seven-day average of over 600,000 cases a day and over 8½ thousand lives lost per day. Whilst we have great challenges, we have been mercifully spared that which has beset so much of the world.

One of the things that are occurring now is that we're seeing vaccine rates accelerating to national record levels: 139,000 on Sunday, 335,000 over the weekend, 1.8 million Australians vaccinated in one week—the population of South Australia and more. These are Australians who stepped forward to protect themselves, protect their friends, protect their families, protect their country. Every vaccine helps protect each one of us, but every vaccination helps protect all of us. That's what Australians are doing in record numbers—at a rate, I'm advised, that is in excess of the highest seven-day average in the UK and comparable to the highest in the United States.

What it means in practice is that we now have national vaccination rates of 17.15 million Australians who have been vaccinated, or 52.8 per cent with first doses amongst the eligible population, and over 30 per cent with second doses amongst the eligible population—perhaps most significantly, amongst our most vulnerable older citizens, which is why we are seeing a dramatically different outcome in New South Wales now, as opposed to Victoria a year ago. We have vaccination rates for our over 50s of 75 per cent plus, for our over 60s of 80 per cent already, and for our over 70s of 85 per cent.

Australians have been stepping forward to arm themselves, to protect the nation, to take the steps that will help protect each individual and every individual, and they're doing this at the same time as we're bringing forward new treatments, such as sotrovimab, which is now being supported by the TGA and will be made available to protect Australians.