Rolling out the 117 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to end the pandemic will rank as one of Australia's most anticipated government programs.
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The Department of Health has signed PwC as the program delivery partner to ensure vaccination of Australians can begin in March - subject to TGA approvals - with whole of population completion in 2021.
Logistics partners DHL and Linfox will run a national distribution network, including to people in very remote and hard to reach areas. Purpose-built dry ice containers will keep the Pfizer vaccine at the required temperature. Needles, syringes and personal protective equipment will also need to be transported.
Data partner Accenture will develop software to enable visibility across the delivery chain, including receipt by health services, vaccination of patients, and monitoring for adverse reactions.
The government is urging the community to continue social distancing, good hand hygiene and testing. The mandatory hotel quarantine regime for international travellers will remain.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government's advice remained that Australia was on track for first vaccinations in March.
"Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic remains the envy of the world," he said on Thursday.
Labor has urged the government to renegotiate contracts to allow a rollout as soon as TGA approval occurs as expected in January. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese says the reason for delaying to March is because the government was slow to negotiate for doses.
"The federal government was very late to sign up to any of the deals with the big pharma companies," Mr Albanese said on Wednesday.
"The rest of the world started negotiating and doing deals in March. The federal government signed the first deal in September."
"There are consequences beyond people getting coronavirus and dying. There's mental health concerns, people being isolated. There is the economy and job losses."
Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Patricia Sparrow pressed the continued urgency for vaccination.
"Older Australians and aged care workers must be at the front of the queue," Ms Sparrow said. "Of course, we will follow the advice of the experts managing the pandemic at national level but we expect older people and staff to be in the fast last."
Harley Dennett
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
