The Hon. Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
TRANSCRIPT
10 August 2021
INTERVIEW WITH NEIL MITCHELL
3AW MORNINGS
E&OE…
Topics: Victoria vaccination update, Moderna approved in Australia’s national COVID-19 vaccine roll out, compassionate lockdown exceptions, aged care.
NEIL MITCHELL:
A new vaccine is available to arrive in Australia – Moderna. What will be its relevance be to you? What will the relevance to meeting these targets that we’re talking about? Seventy per cent vaccinated to have some degree of easing of restrictions.
On the line, Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt. Good morning.
GREG HUNT:
And good morning, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
You have to be worried about Victoria. 20 new cases, 15 of them in the community. It’s not heading the right way, isn’t it?
GREG HUNT:
Look, it is a challenge. I know that everybody in Melbourne and within the Victorian Government is doing everything they can. We’ve done it before – we know how to do it. Clearly this is an outbreak that was, was seeded in parts of the community and so now we have to fight.
At the same time, what we’re seeing is that the vaccination rates are increasing. In the last week, there were just over 1.3 million Australians vaccinated, or almost the entire population of Adelaide.
So we’re seeing, you know, Australians coming forward, but we do have to go through these, these difficult challenges.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay. Would you assume lockdown will continue in Victoria? I know it’s not your decision, but on that basis you’d assume it would, wouldn’t you?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I won’t pre-empt the Victorian Government.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Fair enough.
GREG HUNT:
And I apologise for that – they’ve got the location, the details. I’ve just come out of a meeting so I haven’t seen all of the elements.
But I do know this, I do know that as difficult and as challenging as it is, you know, Victorians have done an amazing job, and they’ve been doing an incredible job coming forward to be vaccinated. So please keep doing that.
As you’ve mentioned, a new, a new vaccine approved – Moderna, one of the global mRNA vaccines. We’ll have 10 million doses of that this year. And all that means that everybody who wants to be vaccinated this year, can be vaccinated this year.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So will, will Moderna be made available for children?
GREG HUNT:
So two steps. It’s now it had been approved for 18 plus, and then 12 to 18s being considered by the medical regulator, what’s called the Therapeutic Goods Administration. We’re expecting an answer on that within about the coming month.
It’s been done in the United States, so there’s a very good chance that will be added to Pfizer as a vaccine that will be available for the 12 plus. No decision by the regulator, but, you know, the signs are positive on that.
NEIL MITCHELL:
And can that be used as a booster for the others, particularly the AstraZeneca?
GREG HUNT:
Yes, that’s the advice that I have. We don’t have a final medical decision on that. But what we’ve done is we’ve acquired all up 10 million for this year and 15 million for next year, the 15 million next year are intended as a booster option.
So we have three main booster options for next year being the 60 million Pfizer; the 15 million Moderna we’ll have next year on top of the 10 million primary vaccinations for this year; and we also have 51 million Novavax, some of which will come, on the latest advice, this year, some of which are available for next year.
NEIL MITCHELL:
You mentioned the rate at which vaccinations are going ahead, and, and you’re right. In fact, on the latest extrapolations we’ve seen, 70 per cent of the population could be double vaccinated by November 18 – well ahead of the Christmas Day deadline.
GREG HUNT:
My birthday.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Oh well, do you think we could be looking at reopening on your, not reopening, but starting to ease restrictions on your birthday?
GREG HUNT:
All I care about is the, the outcome for the Australian people – but that would be a good outcome.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But it looks possible, it looks possible doesn’t it?
GREG HUNT:
What we are seeing is that people are beginning to realise, wow, it’s safe, it’s effective. Virtually everybody knows somebody now, with over 13.7 million vaccinations and I reckon most Australians know somebody who’s vaccinated in last week with over 1.3 million vaccinations.
And when you think of it, as I say, it’s the population of Adelaide in one week. People are coming forward and saying, I want to play my part, I want to protect myself, but I want to play my part for the country.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But would you agree on the figures as they stand, we are looking at sort of mid-November around your birthday? We’re looking better than we expected. We are looking possibly at entering that new phase – the post-vaccination phase – November 18.
GREG HUNT:
Well, I won’t put a day on it, although it’s a red letter day in our family. But I will say that what we are seeing is, at this point in time, more vaccinations occurring in July and August than we were anticipating and planning on.
Yes, it’s absolutely true that the, the start took longer because of the arrival from overseas and a decision which limited the number for whom AstraZeneca was a preferred vaccine. That, that’s just the reality of a pandemic.
But what we’re also saying is faster vaccination now in last month and this month, than we were anticipating. So it’s Australians that are stepping up.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay. I know you need to get away because you- just quickly – will we ever get back to zero figures do you think?
GREG HUNT:
Look, that’s our hope. I’m always cautious about making predictions, but we’re fighting every day to do that. And Victoria has done the impossible before and we can do it again.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But if that’s our target, then it puts in place tougher restrictions. If we’re looking at zero and zero is the target, and that’s the only thing we’ll accept, that’s putting us in a much tougher position, our restrictions are much tougher to get to zero.
GREG HUNT:
Two, two different things. In the current phase, we’re always driving towards zero cases of community transmission. Once we get to the 70 and the 80 per cent rates, we know that we, we are able to, and we also need to, for the lives and livelihoods of Australians, to progressively open up.
That’s exactly what the plan is. And we know that there, inevitably, you know, in a global pandemic where this disease won’t be eliminated globally, will be with the world for, arguably, as I’ve said before so it’s not new, decades to come, there will be cases. But if we are a vaccinated nation, the more vaccinations the safer we are.
NEIL MITCHELLL:
Well, well yeah. Are you doing projections? Are you doing your own modelling on when we’ll reach those vaccination targets?
GREG HUNT:
Well our goal is, obviously, to give every Australian the opportunity to do that over the course of this year. And what we’re seeing at the moment is.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But are you modelling it? Are you saying? On these figures I’m looking at, which are independently provided, you could be reaching it by mid-November. Are you doing that modelling at a Government level?
GREG HUNT:
Well, obviously, we look at if there’s a certain uptake when we would do it, when we’d get there. I know you’re going to ask me to pick a particular day, and that would be a great day.
NEIL MITCHELL:
No, no, no. I’m not- I’m just talking. But it- give me a middle November, late November, mid-December, we can be that general. What is it?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think what we- what I’ll say is this now. We want every Australian to be- to take up the opportunity of being vaccinated before the end of the year. And it’s each individual who can help every other individual, so that’s the critical thing.
But can we vaccinate everybody who comes forward this year? Yes, we can.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay. Alright. So we- the modelling is another issue. Have you, as yet, finalised the indemnity for GPs with the AstraZeneca?
GREG HUNT:
So we’re very close to finishing it. But the principle is that it begins from, begins from when the program started, so it’s actually backdated. We’ve been working with the AMA, the College of GPs, we’re in a very good place with them.
It protects individuals, it protects the doctors and nurses and pharmacists that are administering, and it’s backdated to February when the program commenced.
So, those protections are solid and clear.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Do you, do you support- the hard border Victoria’s got with New South Wales causing enormous trouble. People trying to get back into the state – compassionate reasons.
Do you support what Victoria’s doing there?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I do understand that. But on the compassionate cases we intervene and we work quietly behind the scenes, and we’ve found the Victorian Government has been helpful where we have approached them.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to do that. The system should work. I’ve got a compassionate reason, I put it to Government, it’s considered. We’re having the same result. People come to us and we go to Government to get it sorted.
The system is cruel, Minister.
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think what we want to do, and we have taken this up through the medical expert panel, is to make sure that there’s as effective and humane system as possible.
And I encourage all the states to adopt these principles of looking at these humanitarian cases, of allowing people home, of allowing kids home, of getting people back into the state, albeit in a safe way – if it means isolation, if it means quarantine.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Of course.
GREG HUNT:
But at least reuniting families is one of the things that we’ve been trying to do all the way through. So it’s a fair point you make.
NEIL MICTHELL:
Well, that’s cruel the way it’s working at the moment. Just finally, is it correct that less than half people with disabilities in care in Australia are fully vaccinated?
GREG HUNT:
No.
NEIL MITCHELL:
What would it be?
GREG HUNT:
As at this point in time in terms of disability residents, about 63.6 per cent. I haven’t got today’s figures yet. But what we’re seeing is very large numbers of people in disability.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Gee, you’d hope it’d be more, you’d hope it’d be more by now though, wouldn’t you? You’d hope it’d be more.
GREH HUNT:
If you, if you’re a parent or a carer of somebody in disability, can I make this request and play it through your programme? If you are listening, please provide consent.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So is consent the problem?
GREG HUNT:
You can save the life and protect the life of somebody who in disability.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Is consent the problem or is the system not getting it out there?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think- we’re visiting homes. We’ve got over 6000 disability homes. We’re making sure there’s a plan for every one of those homes.
But at this stage 63.6 per cent, and so we also encourage those who are the carers to provide that and provide that consent as well.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yes. But I don’t, sorry, I don’t quite understand. Is it, I don’t quite understand. Is it the consent that’s the problem? Or is it the system not getting it out that’s the problem?
GREG HUNT:
Well, no, I think we’re, we’re doing two things here. So there are those that say no, and then we are encouraging supporting everybody to either come to a disability hub or we’re providing the in reach. And so those things are occurring.
The good news is that the rate of cases in disability and the loss of life in disability is significantly lower than the national average. It’s been one of our great achievements as a nation.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I’d like to see more than 63.6 per cent vaccinated. But look, thank you very much for your time. I know you have to get away. Thanks for talking to us.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks, Neil. We’ll get there.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, I hope so. Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt.
-ENDS-