About 86,000 vaccines were administered nationally in the fortnight to March 7, which is only about half what was allocated to states, territories and the commonwealth. The precise number of unused doses — and which jurisdiction is responsible — is unknown, after national cabinet agreed last week the public would only be informed of successfully delivered jabs.Senior federal government sources said the states had “objected strongly” to the release of more transparent data. Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded a dozen consecutive “doughnut days”.The number of active cases remains at six and more than 15,000 people received their test results yesterday, the health department reported. It comes as at least 250,000 extra doses are due to arrive on Australia’s shores this week, taking the total doses in the country above a million.After Italy blocked the export of 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Australia last week, fuelling fears of vaccine protectionism, the federal government worked with the company to find other overseas sources to fill the order.Scott Morrison said on Tuesday despite “tight international supply chains”, the government had been able to secure the required stock.“That is enabling us to continue with the pace of our vaccination rollout,” the Prime Minister.The federal Health department’s second weekly update on the rollout did not detail unused or wasted jabs from any jurisdiction, including the Commonwealth. Infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon said the lack of transparency was a “mistake” as it risked “decreasing trust” in the rollout. “There are good reasons why states may not use all their vaccines in a week … but they should be able to stand up and say that,” he said.Prof Collignon said any “stockpiling” must not jeopardise the goal of vaccinating four million vulnerable people by winter. “If one state isn’t getting (their allocation) done, and if another state can give out more … then we should reallocate,” he said. The Herald Sun understands the federal government is willing to redirect supplies away from states if they are too slow in the rollout while other states are willing to move faster. In the first week NSW gave out 74 per cent of its doses, whereas Victoria gave only about 30 per cent and Queensland a mere 22 per cent.Some states have argued they need to hold on to jabs for second doses, but Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed in February the rollout had already accounted for this. “It’s been very carefully calibrated to make sure that each week you had first doses and then there’s enough when you get to the second doses,” he said. A Health Department spokesman said the “detail of information” in the vaccine update was “agreed by the states and territories”, and that the “level” of detail would be continually assessed as the rollout continued. As phase 1A continued, GPs around the country were preparing for 1B, which included elderly people living at home and all health workers. Australian Medical Association NSW president Danielle McMullen is one of 4500 GPs helping with the rollout, but has been told her clinic will only receive 50 doses a week initially. “Slow and steady progress is better than a big disaster … but many GPs felt blindsided about only getting low numbers in the early rollout,” she said. Dr McMullen said her clinic was identifying most at risk patients to get the first jabs.
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