Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please update the House on Australia's vaccine rollout and how it's providing protection for all, including older Australians?

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

I thank the member for O'Connor for his work for people right across his electorate, including in towns such as Kojonup, which has a 90 per cent vaccination rate and which was also able to establish a first-class medical centre with his support, the support of the community and the matching support of the Community Health and Hospitals Program.

Kojonup is an example of the thousands of towns and communities around Australia that have continued to be vaccinated at record levels. We have now reached 87.1 per cent of the country having had a first dose and 74.1 per cent of the country having had a second dose. We do this knowing that the pandemic continues around the world, with over 414,000 cases in the last 24 hours and over 6,600 lives lost in the last 24 hours. These are numbers that are profound and significant. We need to focus on those human impacts, and that's what we have done in this country, with the small towns, the suburbs, the communities and the cities coming together. It has been a great Australian achievement and story.

One of the most important parts of that is what we have been able to do in protecting our older Australians. We have now achieved: for our over-50s, a 94½ per cent first-dose rate; for our over-60s, a 96½ per cent first-dose rate; and, extraordinarily, as one of our great national achievements, a 98.5 per cent first-dose vaccination rate for our most vulnerable Australians, our over-70s, in terms of the coronavirus pandemic and the risks they face. That is a rate which stands with the absolute highest and finest around the world. Most importantly, it protects those Australians who are most at risk. That is backed within our aged-care facilities, with a 99.8 per cent vaccination rate for our aged-care workers.

There are those who may have doubted this. But we didn't doubt; we delivered. And that's significant. That's the baton, the hallmark, the nature, the scope of what this government does under this Prime Minister. We have been able to achieve those outcomes. The next thing is: over the coming days I expect to receive the final advice of the TGA and ATAGI on the booster program, and we will begin, again, with our older Australians. We are ready to support those in residential aged care and then in the general population. As we go forward, we are continuing to save lives and protect lives.