LAURA JAYES:
More than half the population over 16 are now fully vaccinated. Almost 80 per cent of adults have received their first dose of the vaccine, there's no sign of it slowing down yet either, but it will. It was a slow start because we didn't have the supply to meet demand until the end of August. Now, the vaccine rollout is among the fastest in the world. Joining me live now is Lieutenant General John Frewen. He is the leader of Australia's vaccine taskforce. Now, your job is a lot today than it was a couple of months ago when I spoke to you, General Frewen. But we've just seen an explosion of cases in Victoria, a jump of 500. Is there anything you can do to rush more vaccines to Victoria or help with speeding up the rollout?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, hi Laura. Great to be with you. Yeah, look, we're working closely with the Victorian authorities. In fact, I've just got off one interchange with them as we walked down here in this morning. We'll be working with them today to do everything we can to make sure we get all available vaccines, particularly mRNA vaccines to them. You know, this week, next week, as best we can.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay. Well that certainly helps but, you know, supply isn't the issue anymore. Demand is certainly growing and we've seen good higher rates there. Now, Australians have really embraced it. Does it show that we would've done this earlier but we just didn't have enough vaccines?
JOHN FREWEN:
Well Laura, we've had access to AstraZeneca, that very effective vaccine throughout this. As we've discussed before, it has been access to the mRNA vaccines that's been constrained. But the amount of vaccines that we've got coming through October now, both our Pfizer and Moderna, you know, really means that it isn't about supply. We're right at a tipping point now where supply stops being the primary constrainer in the mRNA vaccines, and it's all about demand from here on in. And we've got fantastic rates of vaccination so far. You said my job's got a whole lot easier; well, there's still a lot of hard work to be done and we've got to make sure that people keep coming forward and I really implore people to keep doing so.
LAURA JAYES:
Yeah, indeed, there is. So more mRNA vaccines are on the way - Pfizer and Moderna. Now, every month we kind of wait to hear what our allocation will be. Do we have that allocation for October and November? Has it dropped or has it stayed at those high levels?
JOHN FREWEN:
No look, from- with Pfizer, they confirm progressively with us. So they've confirmed the first three weeks of October, we're just waiting on the final week of October. But we've got the indicative numbers that we'll get for the whole year. So, you know, we know the total amount we'll have by the end of the year. With Pfizer, we've got, you know, strong indications of exactly what we'll get [indistinct]…
LAURA JAYES:
[Talks over] Okay. So what are they, because your horizons…
JOHN FREWEN:
…there's plenty of vaccines, yeah.
LAURA JAYES:
Yeah, your horizons show 2 million a week of Pfizer. So is that on track?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. Yeah, no we'll- we've got 9 million, approximately of Pfizer we expect in October. We've got another 2 million of Moderna on top of that. Sorry, 3 million Moderna on top of that in October. And then that'll sort of repeat through the year. But we'll have, by this- during October, we'll have enough vaccines in the country to get everyone fully vaccinated, Laura.
LAURA JAYES:
Yeah. So over 12s now can get Moderna and Pfizer. Anyone over 12 can get Moderna and Pfizer in New South Wales, but that's not the case right around the country yet. Why not?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. So look, we've given the states and territories the option to open up to the over 60s. We think that's been appropriate from now. Some of them have chosen to do that. They've been comfortable with where they're at. New South Wales have made that decision just last night. The vaccines are here now. You talked about the 12 to 15 year olds, we've had more than 400,000 12 to 15 year olds come forward just over the last fortnight. That's 33 per cent of 12 to 15 year olds have had their first dose and predominantly that's been work- Moderna through the pharmacies. Fantastic convenience. So, you know, that's moving really well through there.
LAURA JAYES:
We're also seeing pockets of hesitancy, which you would expect. Can you identify why and where the biggest problem areas are?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah. So we're watching really carefully, I mean, you gave the great vaccine rates. More than three quarters of the country now have had their first dose. So we're over 54 per cent fully vaccinated, but we're watching where those pockets are and there are very specific communities that we're working with now. I mean, the Indigenous sector is a concern for us and that's our highest priority right now, to help bring them along. There are cultural and linguistic groups. There are some socio economic groups.
Now, each of these groups have very specific requirements and very specific sort of views that we need to work on, and we're working on getting the right communications and the right influences and community leaders to help us bring those groups along.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay, let's talk about freedom, because in New South Wales, it feels really close, I've got to say. But freedom for the unvaccinated doesn't come until we reach 90 per cent double dose. Gladys Berejiklian has said that will be around the 1st of December. Is that going to happen? We haven't seen the slowdown yet, but what are we talking across the country? Is it realistic to get to 90 per cent?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yes. So look, the national plan has 70 per cent and 80 per cent as the sort of the triggers for the progressions there. Some of the states and territories are talking about more. But where we are right now, it is possible for us to get to 70 per cent fully vaccinated by the end of October. We think nationally we could get to 80 per cent by the middle of November. And it's also conceivable we could get to 90 per cent around the end of November, start of December. But the fact is, is people coming forward. And international experience shows us that once you get past 70 per cent, things do start to slow down. So that's why I'm saying there's still a lot of hard work to do. We can't let people get complacent. We've got to keep our foot on the pedal and we really need people coming forward and urging others to come forward to help protect all of us and help get us to those numbers which we can get to. We've got the distribution points. We've got the convenience of access.
LAURA JAYES:
[Interrupts] Sorry. So what you're saying is for the unvaccinated, they might be hanging out to get to 90 per cent and think, oh, well, they can get away with not getting a vaccine. But that might not happen until well beyond December if that tipping point is reached.
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, look, there are people who are unvaccinated now who are still getting around to it. We hope increasing convenience will bring them along. There are some who are still making up their minds and we also hope to help turn them around, both through education and advertising and the like. But- and hopefully friend and peers will encourage them. But there are also people in areas where there are not outbreaks, and this has been another significant factor in some of the complacency. And the thing with Delta is, it's going to get to everywhere eventually. And potentially- and when it does, it goes fast. So I really implore people to maintain a sense of urgency around vaccination. I mean, I would not be complacent about vaccination at all. And now that it is getting simpler and simpler to get vaccinated, it's the time to do it, Laura.
LAURA JAYES:
Yeah. And we're seeing that in Queensland, aren't we, because they haven't had a significant outbreak. That might all change within a week.
JOHN FREWEN:
Could do, and hopefully, again, we're moving additional supplies and additional points of presence into every area around the country now, so let's keep encouraging people, keep turning up.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay. What about booster shots? When are those going to be rolled out?
JOHN FREWEN:
Yeah, that's- well, the Department of Health is developing the policies around that, I mean, the science is still out on boosters and it's not my area of responsibility. But I think there will probably be some options around boosters before the end of the year. Of course, this is about protecting the most vulnerable. So like with the vaccine program, the first priority will be to those people who need the boosters most to keep them safe, and the science is still being finalised around that around the world. But we'll be ready to support with that as soon as we're required to.
LAURA JAYES:
And supply, no longer an issue?
JOHN FREWEN:
The vaccines are coming. Soon, we'll have full choice across the country for all of the available vaccines, and AstraZeneca will sort of remain, Pfizer is coming on still through an increasing number of GPs, and Moderna particularly through the pharmacists who are doing a great job. We've got almost 2800 pharmacies now across the countryside and people are turning up in droves, which is great to see.
LAURA JAYES:
That is great news. General Frewen, thanks so much for your time, as always.
JOHN FREWEN:
Thanks, Laura.
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