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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-13 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (14:54): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question on South Australia's readiness for the probability of the Delta variant before vaccination targets are reached.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: The rollout of vaccinations in SA is significantly behind Victoria and New South Wales. South Australia has a first dose of 72.9 per cent compared to Victoria of 85.8 per cent and New South Wales of 90.4 per cent. The second dose can only build after the completion of the first dose, with a several-week delay, depending on the vaccine type.

These figures reflect the motivation of a serious outbreak. I know the minister has recently answered a question on hospital beds, but my question is broader and twofold. My questions are:

1. Given the lagging vaccination rates in South Australia and the ever-present likelihood of an outbreak of the Delta variant on the scale experienced in Victoria and New South Wales, and given the ongoing existing severe problems with ambulance availability and ramping outside of EDs, what plans are in place for ambulance, ED and ICU to handle a significant COVID outbreak in South Australia?

2. What is the government doing to rapidly raise the vaccination rates in South Australia, particularly for vulnerable and key groups?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for his question. It is a very relevant question. This period between now and the period where we reopen the borders is a very strategic time. It is really important that we maximise our vaccination rate and that we do so in a broad way.

The honourable member rightly points out that the outbreak states of Victoria and New South Wales are experiencing a significant increase in vaccination rates, and that is also true of the ACT. In fact, my understanding is that the ACT is second to Victoria in terms of vaccination rates, in terms of doses per hundred people. Certainly, the ACT has been very successful. One of the reasons for that is that it is a relatively compact geographic community in which it is relatively easy to provide at least geographic access to vaccinations.

We certainly have seen that SA, being a lower COVID state, has not experienced the outbreak impact that those eastern jurisdictions have, and thank God we haven't had COVID outbreaks. The honourable member is completely on track in terms of highlighting that every day is a risk. We have had almost a case a day in recent weeks, and any one of those cases could have led to an outbreak.

Let's remember that it was a limousine driver in Sydney who wasn't following, as I understand it, PPE requirements that led to what is now the New South Wales outbreak. We are relying very much on our hardworking contact tracing teams and public health teams to get on top of those cases, and they have done remarkably well, yet again, in the last month or so with those series of cases. It does behove all South Australians to take up the opportunity to get vaccinated, particularly if you are in regional South Australia and you are relying on mobile clinics.

The situation, though, is much less risky than New South Wales. In New South Wales, their outbreak started on 16 June and at that stage 4 per cent of the total population, 5 per cent of the 16+ population, had been vaccinated. As of today, South Australia is in the situation of having 56.5 per cent of second doses administered to 16 or older.

Already, to use it in crude terms—and this might cause Nicola Spurrier to blush, a politician trying to do epidemiology explanations, but my crude understanding of that is that it means that we have 10 times the rate of second doses. So if an outbreak was to come today, we would certainly be in a much better position than New South Wales was in the middle of June.

I strongly agree with the honourable member that vaccination needs to be a major focus in the coming period. In terms of reaching out to vulnerable groups I particularly bring the honourable member's attention to the program announced yesterday, a school immunisation program which has a particular emphasis on schools in lower socio-economic communities. Not only will we be vaccinating the students but each of those clinics will also have a weekend presence, I am advised—most if not all—so that members of the school community as well as the students themselves can come and get vaccinated.

The government continues to maintain a strong focus and awareness of the needs of regional South Australia. Eighteen of the public sector schools that are receiving those clinics are country schools and my understanding is there are another six Catholic and independent schools in that program. In terms of other vulnerable groups, we are continuing to provide outreach to workplaces, particularly industries that might be susceptible to COVID transmission.

In that context, I was delighted on Sunday I think it was—it might have been Saturday—to launch the government's fleet of mobile vaccination clinics, what I dubbed 'vax vans'. They will be rolling out and the first two of those will be rolling out in the northern suburbs, again highlighting the fact that we are very keen to address lower vaccination rates in areas such as the northern suburbs. Those vans will be available right across South Australia to the local health networks to deliver services within their programs and will be coordinated by the SA Ambulance Service.

The PRESIDENT: The minister ought to bring his answer to a conclusion.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Thanks, Mr President. I am sure we will have plenty of opportunity to continue to discuss these issues, but the honourable member rightly highlights the importance of vaccination and it behoves each of us, as South Australians, to get vaccinated to protect ourselves, our families and our communities. I believe it is particularly important that we as parliamentarians take the lead in encouraging our communities and address what is dangerous misinformation. I would like to thank the opposition and other members of the parliament for supporting that public information campaign that vaccination is our pathway out of the pandemic.

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