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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-31 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding COVID-19:

1. Does the minister agree with the Prime Minister's comments this morning, at a press conference that he attended alongside our Premier, that all state governments received a timely 12-week schedule of expected vaccine deliveries and that there should be no reason to be surprised at all about the vaccine deliveries?

2. Why have mass vaccination clinics been able to be opened in other states, such as Western Australia and in Victoria, for some time but in South Australia such clinics are still months away?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:58): I want to actually affirm how vital the partnership between the commonwealth, the states and the territories has been in this vaccination program. We are in a situation where a significant portion of the rest of the world is still facing deadly consequences of COVID. The last time I looked there were about 8,000 people a day dying of COVID-19.

South Australia, in the next week, will commemorate the tragic anniversary of the death of four of our own and yet, through the good work of the people of South Australia and our public health team, in partnership with the commonwealth government, we, thank God, are in the situation where we may well go a year without a single death to COVID.

One of the next very important steps of coming out of COVID is the vaccination program. Just as we have done right through the last year, we are going to be steady, safe and effective. We are not going to cut corners so that we can meet some bizarre Labor target. We are going to make sure that we back our public health teams and back our broader SA Health—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order on both sides!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I want to hear the minister.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, leader!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Before I give more detail, I just want to put on the record the great importance of the partnership continuing with the commonwealth government because, even as we were fighting the outbreaks through last year, the commonwealth was diligently pursuing the procurement of a whole range of vaccines.

So we have a vaccine suite in Australia. Two of them have already hit the battlefield, if you like. Two of them are already being administered in South Australia. In fact, South Australia was the first state in Australia to administer an AstraZeneca vaccine within five days of arriving in Australia. Within 36 hours of arriving in South Australia, it was at the Murray Bridge Soldiers' Memorial Hospital being provided to staff there.

In terms of the planning for the vaccination program, I am in no doubt that the Prime Minister appreciates that the planning for the vaccination program is significantly dependent on supplies because that's not just true of the state, it's also true of the commonwealth. We had the situation on the very morning that I was going out to Murray Bridge to commemorate that first AstraZeneca vaccine, I was having discussions with the federal minister Greg Hunt because that very morning we were getting word that Italy had acted to stop a shipment at AstraZeneca.

What more evidence do you need that this program is going to be dependent on supplies? We make no apology for making it clear to the commonwealth that the more data they can give us about supplies coming through, the more data that they can give us in terms of their effective engagement with GPs and pharmacists, the more confidently we can plan to deliver vaccines in South Australia because, in partnership with the commonwealth, we are determined—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —to give the opportunity for every South Australian—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hunter is out of order.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —to get vaccinated before the end of the year.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Actions on the front bench of the government don't help either.

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