Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question; it's a very important question. Can I say at the outset that I think I might have said an incorrect number in my previous answer. I said four million instead of four billion, so I would like to correct the record on that, to start with.

The circumstance that occurred in Queensland yesterday should not have happened. It should not have happened. The government is just as concerned as anybody else in this chamber with respect to the circumstance that occurred in Queensland yesterday. What occurred, on my advice, is there was a clinical incident at a scheduled vaccination clinic, at the Holy Spirit Home at Carseldine in Queensland, where the vaccination provider dispensed more than the prescribed dose of the Pfizer vaccine to two residents. My understanding is that they are both currently in hospital, but, fortunately, they are both well at this stage. They are both okay, which is quite important for us all to understand.

Both families have been advised of the incident, and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, has been commissioned to conduct a thorough investigation of the circumstances of this event. Once the circumstances are understood, the VOC will work with the provider to implement the appropriate safeguards to prevent these events occurring again. The doses were both administered by a GP working on behalf of Healthcare Australia, who, obviously, are the contractor for providing the service in Queensland.