Opinion: Tasmania’s Vaccine Rollout is being Compromised

As of 1 June, 70,273 Tasmanians had received the COVID-19 vaccine. This is welcome news. It is progress, however it is a tediously slow process. If you look at the numbers and talk with Tasmanians about what is actually happening on the ground with the rollout across the state, it is a different story.

We still have a long way to go until the majority of Tasmanians are safe from potential death due to COVID-19 because until people have received the vaccine they are at risk. But, if you dig a little deeper some cracks are starting to appear in the efficacy of the rollout.

It was revealed in Senate Estimates on Wednesday night that the vaccine rollout across Tasmania is actually being heavily compromised by the federal and state Liberal governments.

I questioned Minister Richard Colbeck and the Department of Health regarding the lack of information within the community about the rollout of the vaccine, eligibility to receive the vaccine and the timetable for the rollout.

There are over 500 vulnerable older north-east Tasmanians waiting for the vaccine but other Tasmanians are receiving the vaccine before them.

I questioned Minister Colbeck about reports from the North East Advertiser regarding Scottsdale-based Ochre Medical Centre which has 500 patients waiting for the Astra Zeneca vaccine.

These eligible residents are waiting for their jabs because they are in Phase 1B and yet they are being overlooked because the federal and state Liberal governments are mismanaging the rollout.

Phase 1B of the rollout is for health care workers, families of quarantine workers, emergency services personnel, adults with a disability, everyone over 70 years of age and Aboriginal people over 50. However, it was revealed by the North East Advertiser that special vaccine clinics nearby are providing jabs to people in there 20’s due to an oversupply of the vaccine. This is a perfect example of the mismanagement of the rollout.

During the Estimates hearing the minister and the department were not aware of the reports and displayed a lack of knowledge about what is happening on the ground in Tasmania.

The rollout is being compromised. Tasmanians don’t know if they are eligible or not for the vaccine. There are stories of people receiving the vaccine when they are not in the 1A, 1B or 2A category of the rollout. It is organised chaos.

Ultimately, the federal and state Liberal governments need to do better in their communication to the community regarding the rollout and find out why people are receiving the vaccine ahead of more vulnerable Tasmanians.

The public needs to be informed.

Are people in non-risk factor groups receiving the vaccine because some residents are refusing to have the vaccine and therefore there is an oversupply and the government is secretly inoculating other members of the community? Tasmanians deserve to know the answer. If the Tasmanian Government wants Tasmanians who are not in the 1A, 1B or 2A category to receive the vaccine ahead of schedule why are they not communicating this publicly?

Minister Colbeck was also asked this week about the rollout of the vaccine in aged care homes across the country. The minister did not know how many people working in aged care had received the vaccine.

Nor was there any substantive detail about residents who have received the vaccine to date. They said at the end of the wee, everyone in residential care will have been offered the jab.

This is an incredibly important time in our nations history as we try to overcome this pandemic. Access to information is fundamental if we are to save lives. When we have a minister in Senate Estimates who is unable to answer basic questions it undermines our country’s ability to succeed in this rollout. When data is not being shared between the Tasmanian Government and the Australian Government it is Tasmanians who will suffer the consequences.

Minister Colbeck’s performance within the aged care portfolio to date has been woeful and it is compromising the rollout of the vaccine amongst vulnerable Tasmanians.

Richard Colbeck has shown a level of incompetence not seen in a minister of the Commonwealth for a significant amount of time. 685 Australians in aged care homes tragically died from COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic.

Now, in Victoria, our aged care residents are again in jeopardy. The minister is negligent and clearly irresponsible. And Colbeck’s lack of motivation and innovation since the pandemic is now putting even more lives at risk by allowing staff to work at multiple aged care homes without residents and staff being vaccinated, spreading the contagion.

In a Senate estimates hearing in October 2020, Minister Colbeck stated: “I don’t feel responsible personally for the deaths that have occurred, as tragic as they are, which were caused by COVID-19.” And he was unable to recall how many residents had died during the pandemic.

Until recent figures were released Colbeck did not even know how many aged care workers have been vaccinated but we do now: only 10% of our workers being vaccinated. This is a tragedy in the making!

Older people who died of COVID-19 were partners, siblings, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and friends. Their deaths highlighted the systemic failures in the aged care sector and the federal government’s lack of planning for community transmission during the pandemic. The fact that his attention to detail is poor, he lacks the knowledge about the portfolio to answer very simple questions asked of him and his demeanour of general disinterest does not put faith into the hearts and minds of Tasmanians.

This incompetent minister needs to be sacked and the federal government needs to take responsibility for the failures of the vaccine rollout within aged care homes.

During this weeks estimates hearing I also asked the department to investigate the claims raised by the North East Advertiser and I am now pushing for a full investigation into the rollout of the vaccine in Tasmania.

The community is starting to question whether the Morrison Liberal government is really capable of getting the job done? I hope they are. Labor is here and we are willing to help. But it may need to start with the resignation or sacking of Minister Colbeck.

Scott Morrison needs to accept responsibility for quarantine.