COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Can the minister update the council on how the government is helping to keep our state safe and economy strong in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for his question. The Marshall Liberal government has asked South Australians to roll up their sleeves when it is their turn to get vaccinated, and that is exactly what is happening. Less than two weeks ago, South Australia passed the one million doses administered milestone, and later this week we expect to reach 1.2 million South Australians being vaccinated.

The rollout program is continuing to gather momentum as vaccine supply increases. Last week, the state recorded a record week, delivering almost 100,000 doses, smashing the previous record of just over 87,000. This included more than 17,000 vaccines delivered in a single day, in what was a record for the most vaccines delivered in a day, and that day was last Wednesday.

The record figures follow South Australia's nation-leading move to expand eligibility of the vaccine to all South Australians aged 16 and over. Younger South Australians have demonstrated their eagerness to step up and be vaccinated to help protect themselves, their families and their community, with more than 150,000 bookings made on Monday of last week.

I want to thank everyone who has stepped up and made a booking in what is the largest peacetime operation in our nation's history. We look forward to further increases in the number of vaccinations delivered over the coming months. The Marshall Liberal government is determined to ensure every South Australian has access to the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible to keep our state safe and strong.

Australia's first AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines were delivered to regional frontline healthcare workers at Murray Bridge Soldiers' Memorial Hospital. In a national first, South Australians living in regional areas aged 16 years and over were able to get their COVID vaccine through regional vaccination clinics from 25 May. South Australia was the first jurisdiction to activate regional, rural and remote community pharmacies to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

We have taken additional steps to protect our most vulnerable South Australians from the effects of COVID-19 by broadening access to the Pfizer vaccine to all staff in residential aged-care facilities regardless of age, and opening dedicated SA Health Pfizer clinics where they can get vaccinated.

The vaccination program is our doorway out of this pandemic, and that's why the Marshall Liberal government committed $86 million in the recent state budget so that SA Health will have the resources they need to be able to pivot to whatever challenges face us in the vaccination rollout. There are approximately 70 SA Health vaccination clinics in metropolitan and regional South Australia. This includes pop-up clinics in regional South Australia that have already provided first doses to eligible people and will return to offer second doses and to vaccinate additional cohorts.

I thank the teams in our SA Health clinics and our partners in the rollout, including GPs and pharmacists, for their hard work in supporting our safe, steady scaling-up of the vaccine rollout, and I encourage everybody to roll up and get vaccinated. The sooner we can get vaccinated, the sooner we can get back to doing the things we love, like travelling interstate and overseas to see friends and family and standing shoulder to shoulder with friends at social and sporting events.