Early phases of vaccine rollout won’t be finished until July: analysis

The latest Health Department figures showed 3 million doses had been distributed for delivery around the country, with about 2.4 million on hand at injection sites up to April 11.

The federal government expects a dramatic increase in supply of the drugs, including from locally manufactured stocks, in coming weeks. That will speed up delivery as state and federal leaders agree to run future phases of the rollout in parallel to injections for vulnerable and frontline recipients.

It was revealed on Tuesday that just 1640 doses had been delivered to residents of disability facilities around the country, representing 6.5 per cent of the vulnerable group. The Morrison government had originally planned for all disability care residents to be vaccinated by Easter, but now it appears likely to continue until the middle of the year.

Professor Murphy said the “great majority” of quarantine and border workers were now vaccinated, along with the ”vast majority” of healthcare workers.

Despite the lack of clarity about targets in the wake of changed health advice on the risk of rare but serious blood clots related to the AstraZeneca vaccine, Professor Murphy told a Senate committee efforts to vaccinate vulnerable people remained on track.

New modelling isn’t being made public, due to uncertainties in supply and vaccine take-up.

“The forward view that can be given with certainty is limited. It’s going to be hard without reliance on domestic supply to be absolutely clear about targets,” Professor Murphy said.

“We will share targets when we have them.”

Thursday’s national cabinet meeting will consider bringing forward plans for over-50s to get vaccinated, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison forecasting a sprint for the rest of the population later in the year.

Commodore Young said the Therapeutic Goods Administration would conduct batch testing on about 173,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 468,000 doses of AstraZeneca in coming days.

Nearly 600,000 doses of vaccines were distributed nationally last week, with an increase expected this week.

He confirmed each phase of the national rollout was designed to run in parallel. “I’ll wait for national cabinet on Thursday to confirm what we will do,” he said.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said the government’s progress was “shameful”.

“Phase 1A, our most vulnerable Australians, were supposed to be vaccinated by Easter. Now we find out only one in 15 residents of disability facilities have received a first dose,” he said.