COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing on COVID-19 vaccines.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: On 21 February this year, the minister put out a press release about the arrival of COVID vaccines, specifically and clearly stating the following:

With the arrival of the first 4,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, we will be able to vaccinate and further protect frontline workers, including medi-hotel and airport red zone staff. We have plans to vaccinate more than 12,000 people within the first three weeks of our rollout.

On the day after, on 22 February, the Premier, in a noon bulletin on Mix radio, said:

Four thousand of the vaccinations were received into SA yesterday. There is going to be another 8,000 coming very soon, which will allow us to have 12,000 of the vaccinations over the first three weeks.

Earlier today in question time, the minister mentioned the 12,000 figure but said that he had no idea where it came from. Does the minister now accept that he is the person who put the 12,000 vaccination plan into the public arena?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for his quote because what he highlights is that what I said was that we had plans for 12,000. The fact is that—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The fact is that—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Does the opposition wish to listen to the minister? Because I do.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, leader!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In terms of the rollout, it is true to say that there are some clinics that didn't achieve the throughput that they were expecting. I don't criticise them for that because, to be frank, I want every clinician in our vaccination program to put safety first. Let's remember that in the first few days of the national program we had a Queensland case of overdosing. Do you think that might have made our clinicians doubly aware of the risks of a rushed program?

I do not criticise our clinical teams for the progress made thus far, because not only have they expanded the number of clinics, they have delivered thousands of vaccines. If I can pause to pay tribute to them, I have received advice since I have been in question time that yesterday they delivered a daily record of more than 1,000 vaccines. I will continue to stand by my public health team and strongly repudiate the criticism of the opposition.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Opposition Whip is out of order. The Hon. Mr Hanson has a supplementary.