Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government is addressing the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic through its advancement of potential vaccines?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Higgins, both for her question and, in particular, for her work as a doctor and as a leading medical researcher. As she well knows and as the House well knows, the pandemic continues to rage around the world. In the course of the last week, extraordinarily, more than 3½ million cases were diagnosed. The world is almost at 51 million cases. What that means, of course, is that more lives will be lost and that more lives are being lost than ever before. We've seen 50,000 lives lost in those same seven days—50,000 lives lost. We are now at over 1.26 million lives lost officially, and inevitably the real total is far greater.

Against that background, I'm privileged to be able to inform the House that Australia has had a third successive day of zero cases of community transmission Australia-wide, and all Australians should be congratulated for that. All Australians have played their part, and I want to thank and honour them for that work. But the work is not done. We know that we're making great progress in our hospitals. The advice from the National Incident Room is that not only is it three consecutive days with zero cases, but this is the first time since 27, 28 and 29 February that we've had three consecutive days with zero cases. We now have zero Australians in ICU and zero on ventilation as a result of COVID-19. But, with the numbers around the world as they are, our work with vaccines is more important than ever before. We've completed the contract for four different vaccines. Yesterday, we referred to the fact that commencement of manufacturing had begun in Victoria for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Today, I'm privileged to be able to inform the House that, in relation to the Pfizer vaccine, the information, internationally, is very positive. There's more work to be done. We need more data, to be absolutely certain. But, after discussions with the CEO of Pfizer Australia, Anne Harris, this morning, I am more hopeful and more confident than ever. What we see is a putative effective rate of 90 per cent for this vaccine, where the hope had been 50 per cent. So: a 90 per cent effectiveness rate, on the data available so far, hasn't just lifted hopes and opportunities here in Australia; it lifts hopes and opportunities for the world.

What we have done with vaccines is to build a portfolio of vaccines—a pipeline of 135 million units. We are fortunate to have made the right choices. We are fortunate to be part of this. And, ultimately, we are saving lives and protecting lives.