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

What I can confirm, as the Minister for Health and Aged Care has done, is that today we are likely to go past the milestone of some 20 million doses of vaccines being administered around the country—20 million doses. That means that almost 60 per cent of the eligible population aged over 16, around 60 per cent of them, would have had their first dose in this country. That's around 35.7 per cent who've had a second dose. For those over 50, it is almost now 80 per cent who have had their first dose and 52.9 per cent who have had their second dose. Very importantly, 87.8 per cent of those aged over 70, the most vulnerable in our community, have had their first dose, and 63.8 per cent have had their second dose.

I can update the House on my earlier response, as further information has been brought to me after my morning briefing. For aged-care workers, first dose is now 82.9 per cent and second dose is 61.3 per cent. The vaccination program is a central part of the government's national plan to get Australia beyond these lockdowns which are doing such terrible damage to people in this country. We need to get past these lockdowns, and the vaccination program is liberating Australians from those lockdowns, which is the objective of the national plan, not to keep Australians shut in, not to keep Australians locked out of states around this country. The national plan is about opening up Australia. The national plan is about connecting Australians to other Australians and connecting Australia's economy to the world so Australian businesses can continue to go forward and have confidence to invest and to employ. (Time expired)

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