Vaccine supply problems may push national rollout into 2022

Some Australians may have to wait until early next year for their second shot of a COVID-19 vaccine due to supply problems, although the government still hopes to be finished by the end of October.

Top government health officials also said it was “impossible to predict” exactly when the first 4 million people would receive their first dose, a milestone initially expected by the end of the month.

Officials told the Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry that supply constraints and the longer 12-week window between AstraZeneca doses meant some may have to wait until December to get their second shot.

The Labor chair of the committee, Katy Gallagher, said the evidence on 11 March contradicted the “clear language” from the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the health minister, Greg Hunt, of full vaccination by October.

But the health department secretary, Prof Brendan Murphy, claimed it was a “semantic debate” that “doesn’t really matter” because people would receive protection against Covid-19 from the first dose.

/Prof Brendan Murphy

He told a Senate committee that 125,000 people, including 30,000 in aged care, had been vaccinated since the rollout began in the last week of February, leaving the government likely to fall short of the target.

He said that the rollout was going “as quickly as we can safely do with the available vaccines”.

“It will be impossible to predict exactly when we will hit 4 million until we know what the CSL production capability will be like, what the further international supplies will be like,” Professor Murphy said.

Last week, Health Minister Greg Hunt rejected the potential for delay after Europe blocked the export of one AstraZeneca shipment to Australia.

“We are very clear that this does not affect the pace of the rollout,”   he said.

 

/Health Minister Greg Hunt

Almost three weeks into the national COVID-19 vaccine rollout, 125,000 people have received their first dose. The federal government has previously said phase 1a, covering almost 680,000 aged care residents, healthcare workers and quarantine staff, will be completed within six weeks.

The government has also repeatedly said all adults who want it will be vaccinated by the end of October.

/Health Department associate secretary Caroline Edwards

Health Department associate secretary Caroline Edwards said all first doses would be delivered by October, but conceded the 12-week wait between AstraZeneca doses recommended by Australia’s expert vaccine taskforce meant some people might not receive their second dose until mid-January.

“If we don’t succeed to have everyone have two doses [by the end of October] then it inevitably follows that your second dose will be 12 weeks after that in accordance with the protocol,” she said. “But that will be the end date if it goes beyond October and we’ve said all along we’re planning to finish both doses by October if we possibly can.”

Phase 1, covering almost 7 million people, was expected to be finished by the middle of the year, Professor Murphy said.