Federal minister Linda Reynolds has effectively acknowledged the timing of Australia's COVID-19 national immunisation rollout is a reflection of the federal government's caution on the vaccines.
In an interview with Sky News Australia yesterday, the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme of Australia was asked about Australia's stalling vaccine rollout and whether 'heads should roll'.
The questions from the host Laura Jayes were in response to yesterday's story in BioPharmaDispatch about the prime minister's intervention in response to months of inaction from the health portfolio on the procurement of vaccines.
“Vaccines were developed very quickly, they were tested very quickly, we made decisions very early on to wait until the vaccines had been sufficiently tested before we put them in Australian arms,” said Minister Reynolds.
The minister's statement has confused the issue given the government's action once the procurement strategy was endorsed by the National Cabinet on 7 August 2020.
What followed the endorsement was several weeks of action during which the government established an expert advisory committee and entered manufacturing and advance procurement agreements with AstraZeneca, CSL and Pfizer. The issue was that this action was late when comparred to many other countries that had already invested in the development of vaccines or secured advance purchase agreements.
“I think the prime minister has been, and continues to be, an outstanding leader in these issues so we face and tackle these issues as they arrive and we make decisions," said the minister.
