New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard has slammed the federal government for accusing his state of being slow to rollout Covid-19 vaccines.
A news report on Wednesday morning featured federal government figures implying NSW had only administered 50 per cent of the vaccines provided by the Commonwealth.
But hours later, Mr Hazzard shot down claims ’emanating from the federal government’ that only 96,273 of 190,610 available doses had so far been given to residents across the state.
‘Let’s get this clear. The NSW government was asked to rollout 300,000 vaccinations to the groups in [phase] 1A and 1B. Of that, we have done 100,000,’ Mr Hazzard said during a press conference.
New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he is ‘extremely angry’ (pictured at a press conference on Wednesday) over federal government figures that suggest NSW is being slow to reach its Covid-19 vaccine target
‘The federal government were asked, and are responsible for, five million, and they have rolled out 50,000. I think the figures speak for themselves.
‘I’m extremely angry, and I know there are other health ministers in the country who share similar views, state and territory health ministers.’
Mr Hazzard said the claims were misleading and offensive as NSW and other public health teams work their hardest to distribute supplies from ‘the frontline of a war’.
He said a shipment of 45,000 doses was ‘dumped at our front door’ with no warning, when the state government was only expecting 13,700.
‘And now, less than a few days later, there’s a press report saying we haven’t distributed them all. Well, you get 45,000 [doses] dumped on your front door at night and told you have to have it out by the next morning, no one will be able to do that,’ he said.
‘I really, I really find this very offensive,’ Mr Hazzard said.
‘If you’re going to win a war you can’t have the tanks and the artillery all dropped at the airport and told about it, and then go public about it. A few days later, you’ve got to know [what your] supply lines are and you’ve got to be able to work to those.’
Gladys Berjiklian (pictured on Wednesday) said the reports were ‘not true’ and were ‘unfair’ after state authorities were only given less than two days notice that they would be receiving more doses than initially anticipated
The irate reaction from the state’s top health boss came after two federal ministers accused NSW and QLD of stockpiling doses.
‘Our biggest issue with the vaccines at the moment is to make sure that the states and territories rollout the supply of the vaccines that they have,’ Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said.
Mr Tehan said he wants states to use their ‘stockpiles’, especially to cover vulnerable groups.
Ministerial colleague David Littleproud said he wants states, particularly his home state of Queensland, to ‘pull their finger out’ as frontline workers wait for the jab.
According to federal figures, NSW had used only half of the 190,610 doses it had received, and Queensland was at 55 per cent.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the reports are ‘not true’.
‘What is also extremely unfair, is that when we are given 24 or 48 hours notice about how many new doses we’re getting, and as you can appreciate, disseminating that within 24 hours or 48 hours is a difficult task,’ Ms Berejiklian said
She warned the only way of meeting the federal target of vaccinating the Australian population by October is for federal and state governments to work cooperatively.
‘Our government wants to speed things up,’ she said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said more than 650,000 people had been vaccinated nationwide and that would hit one million next week
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Scott Morrison promised four million people would be vaccinated by the end of March and was 3.4 million short.
It would be good if the federal government took responsibility for something,’ Mr Albanese said.
Concerns are also growing about what will happen to community immunity if states don’t have the second dose available.
‘If the Commonwealth can tell us what their supply is, we are more than happy to roll out the rest of that as quickly as possible,’ Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.
NSW wants the federal government to apologise to all state and territory governments.
The Queensland premier remains concerned about supplies of vaccines and the nursing home rollout, both of which are in the hands of the Morrison government.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk wants the federal government to publish daily figures on the number of vaccinations and the supply of vaccines to each state and territory.
Ms Berejiklian called for a national vaccination plan and has put the Byron, Ballina, Lismore and Tweed areas on ‘extra high alert’ with new social restrictions until the end of Easter.
Pictured: Packaging and fridges used to store Covid-19 vaccine at a DHL facility in Sydney, on Sunday February 14
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said more than 650,000 people had been vaccinated nationwide and that would hit one million next week, as he hinges economic recovery plans on the rollout.
‘We’re on track for our first dose for everyone by October,’ he said.
‘We’re not relying like most countries in the world for vaccines to come from somewhere else.’
The debate came as Queensland weighs up ending its lockdown on Thursday, as health officials make good progress on tracing cases linked to health workers.
Queensland reported two new local cases on Wednesday – one being a nurse from Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital who had received her first vaccine dose, and the other is her housemate.
NSW also reported the case of a man in his 20s who last weekend attended the same Byron Bay venue as a hen’s party which is linked to several COVID cases in Queensland.
