Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

We were able to announce those decisions this week because of an additional half a million doses that we were able to bring forward to ensure that that can support the vaccination of children aged 12 to 15. We will report those figures of vaccinations, of those 12 to 15, as we have reported all other figures throughout the course of the pandemic and been very transparent about them, because I know that parents—as a parent of two children aged between 12 and 15—will be very interested to know about how we're progressing with those vaccinations for that age group. It's an important group to be vaccinated. That's why we moved immediately to ensure that they, more broadly, would be able to be vaccinated.

We had already taken the decision, some weeks ago, for those in Indigenous communities and remote places and those with other health conditions to be vaccinated prior to that, and that program has already been running for many weeks as the member is, I'm sure, aware. And I want to thank—as the member himself, a local health professional in his own community over many years, greatly respected, knows—the tremendous job that general practitioners are doing in supporting that vaccination program.

When you're talking about young children, as I'm sure the member knows—I'm sure he's given many injections to young children—the opportunity for them to go and sit there with a local GP who's helped them with every other sneeze and sniffle or even more serious things over time and to be able to see a face they know, to be able to get that injection and to have that assurance from that health professional, is extremely important. I want to thank the GPs as they go about that job of vaccinating our children. That's an important trust we give to our GPs and nurses and everyone else who's doing it. I thank you for doing it, and I thank you for the way that you will engage in that. I'm pleased that we've been able to get the additional doses to support that, and there are more irons in the fire for that outcome as well.

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