The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[lakeman]

NSW got 45 per cent of the Pfizer vaccines allocated to GPs last month, data shows

An analysis of publicly available data raises more questions about the way COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed in Australia since the rollout started to ramp up in the middle of the year.

www.abc.net.au

Well what a surprise (i think NSW should have had above their allocation due to the outbreak).

Key phrase in article talks only of % of gp allocation.
Why havent they presented the figures for % of total allocations to each state.
You know that previously Victoria has prioritised their hubs for vaccinations.

 

[justinbrett]

Unfortunately that has come at a cost and handbrake to other states.

And yet there were Pfizer appointments going unfilled not that long ago.

Some might say NSW being out in front was a clever tactic to motivate the other states who can't stand to see NSW in front. Judging by some of the posts here, quite plausible.

This also assumes that there were the same number of GPs and pharmacists pro rota in each state offering Pfizer - and we know that NSW was many weeks ahead for pharmacies.

Not everything is as you read.

 

[jakeseven7]

Key phrase in article talks only of % of gp allocation.
Why havent they presented the figures for % of total allocations to each state.
You know that previously Victoria has prioritised their hubs for vaccinations.

I think it’s clear that the numbers have been rubber banded to suit slanted and predictably boring state v state wars (riling up the sensitive NSW residents, tired Victorians and perpetually ‘hard done by’ QLDers) - but again, if QLD had blown up like NSW we would have got the same treatment, VIC the same etc.

The game of musical chairs of bad outbreaks saw NSW missing a seat when the bad one came, it blew up in their face and so they got the vaccines. It could have been any state. It’s that simple.

 

[jrfsp]

Not everything is as you read.

Without doubt and in the grand scheme a few weeks here and there (hopefully) wont make too much difference. My main point is that the delivery figures should be made public to hold all areas of government accountable but by not doing so creates a lot more questions (and articles like those)

 

[lovetravellingoz]

You know that previously Victoria has prioritised their hubs for vaccinations.

I am not sure what you are referring to?

The Feds control how much supply each channel gets and the type of vaccines they get. The Feds manage two of the channels, but control and manage the supply of vaccines to all three.

The Vic state hubs were only meant to be vaccinating 25% of the doses in the original Federal Plan, but the Feds did not not manage the GP Channel properly in approving enough GP's and more lately pharmacists in Victoria. Due to the failure of the Feds to manage the Primary Care Channel properly in Victoria the Vic Gov kept opening more and more state hubs so that people could get vaccinated. However the Feds control the supply to each of the three channels.

It is only this last week that the Feds have belatedly approved another 400GPs to vaccinate with Pfizer in Victoria. Victorian Pharmacists were also only added to the Commonwealth Primary Care Channel very recently and well after both Qld and NSW.



The Feds have also not managed the Commonwealth Age Care and Disability Channel at all well for most jurisdictions. This is a channel that the Feds control as well as supply.

 

[mviy]

The Australian - "Vaccines raging in hotspots" - "Vaccination rates have soared in some of the Sydney suburbs worst affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, putting them well above the national average as the NSW government pushes ahead with plans to lift health restriction. Almost 86% of residents in the Blacktown local government area have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the sixth-highest coverage rate across any part of the country..."

The Courier Mail - "This is Your Wake-Up Call" - "Get campaign to boost jab rate as worst LGAs exposed" - "Text messages will be sent to every mobile phone in Queensland as a reminder to get vaccinated, as concerning new data reveals the state is home to almost half of Australia's most Covid-exposed council areas..."

Herald Sun - "Doctors' Orders" - "Hundreds more Vic GP clinics get green light to deliver jabs after being snubbed for Sydney" - "A massive expansion of GP clinics in Victoria's vaccine rollout will begin next week after federal authorities delayed establishing primary care vaccination sites to prioritise Sydney hot spots."

 

[justinbrett]

I am not sure what you are referring to?

The Feds control how much supply each channel gets and the type of vaccines they get. The Feds manage two of the channels, but control and manage the supply of vaccines to all three.

The Vic state hubs were only meant to be vaccinating 25% of the doses in the original Federal Plan, but the Feds did not not manage the GP Channel properly in approving enough GP's and more lately pharmacists in Victoria. Due to the failure of the Feds to manage the Primary Care Channel properly in Victoria the Vic Gov kept opening more and more state hubs so that people could get vaccinated. However the Feds control the supply to each of the three channels.

It is only this last week that the Feds have belatedly approved another 400GPs to vaccinate with Pfizer in Victoria. Victorian Pharmacists were also only added to the Commonwealth Primary Care Channel very recently and well after both Qld and NSW.



The Feds have also not managed the Commonwealth Age Care and Disability Channel at all well for most jurisdictions. This is a channel that the Feds control as well as supply.

View attachment 257752

Again, nothing is simple as it seems. It's a bit rich to blame the federal government for the lack of GPs in Victoria in the program (you have to apply). Also just to be clear, many of the doses in the graphic above are AZ, not Pfizer.

The GP-focussed delivery model favoured NSW because doctors play a more prominent role in NSW’s healthcare system. About 22 per cent of the GPs involved in the vaccine rollout are in Victoria, a smaller proportion than Victoria’s share of the total population which is 26 per cent

Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, a former Australian Medical Association president, said confusion over eligibility and the safety of AstraZeneca meant many Victorian doctors decided not to take part. As doctors grew apprehensive due to vaccine supply concern, the Victorian government filled the void by announcing mass hubs weeks before NSW, entrenching the comparatively outsized role of the state-run delivery system in Victoria.

Victoria in talks over extra shots, mulls GP payments to boost rollout

The Victorian government wants to boost vaccine output by up to 120,000 per week, as it lags behind NSW which has received top-ups from the Morrison government.

www.theage.com.au

It's clearly not a case of the federal government just giving more Pfizer to NSW. It's so much more complex than that.

 

[mviy]

The Age - "'Hardly anyone' should be waiting for Pfizer, GPs say"

Looks like it is also on the website here: GPs urge unvaccinated not to wait for Pfizer as Weimar warns of real and present danger

"Doctors are urging Victorians not to wait for the Pfizer vaccine, warning that many people who have had blood clots or strokes still wrongly believe the AstraZeneca vaccine is unsafe for them...For those among the highest risk of dying from COVID if unvaccinated – those in their 60s and above – there has been one death in Australia from the rare vaccine side effect, compared with 995 deaths from COVID."

 

[Lynda2475]

Pharmacies are not administering Pfizer in NSW, currently only AZ and shortly Moderna. So Pharmacies coming on board as a channel in NSW earlier than other states has had zero impact on Pfizer roll out here.

NsW government has been disproportionately targeting the 12 LGAs of concern and now Dubbo, making more vaccine available there than other parts of NSW, but they now need to boost rates in the surrounding LGAs as virus will be fast running out of unvaccinated hosts in south west wnd west.

The Polish doses were above our Pfizer order and only supplied because of NSW outbreak, they were shared across all states, even though no urgent need in states without outbreaks. None of the Polish doses were taken from other states as they were extra and would not have been sold to Australia at all if not for the outbreak in NSW.

The other doses were brought forward due to vaccine swaps, how short the memories of the complainers are they foget that Vic got extra doses in June from fed stock pile (at a higher %, than the first lot of extra doses NSW got in July). The NSW and now Vic outbreaks are the only reason the feds initated vaccine swaps, with Singapore and UK, without this most Aussied under 40 would still be waiting months for a first dose.

 

[33kft]

Looks like there is some reporting on the vaccine distribution

‘Hunger Games’: NSW grabs vaccines

NSW is grabbing an unfair share of vaccines in a “Hunger Games” style tussle with the other states, leaving them to fall behind what they deserve to be allocated per head of population.

www.news.com.au

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Again, nothing is simple as it seems. It's a bit rich to blame the federal government for the lack of GPs in Victoria in the program (you have to apply). Also just to be clear, many of the doses in the graphic above are AZ, not Pfizer.

The GP-focussed delivery model favoured NSW because doctors play a more prominent role in NSW’s healthcare system. About 22 per cent of the GPs involved in the vaccine rollout are in Victoria, a smaller proportion than Victoria’s share of the total population which is 26 per cent

Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, a former Australian Medical Association president, said confusion over eligibility and the safety of AstraZeneca meant many Victorian doctors decided not to take part. As doctors grew apprehensive due to vaccine supply concern, the Victorian government filled the void by announcing mass hubs weeks before NSW, entrenching the comparatively outsized role of the state-run delivery system in Victoria.

Victoria in talks over extra shots, mulls GP payments to boost rollout

The Victorian government wants to boost vaccine output by up to 120,000 per week, as it lags behind NSW which has received top-ups from the Morrison government.

www.theage.com.au

It's clearly not a case of the federal government just giving more Pfizer to NSW. It's so much more complex than that.

Of course it is more complex than that, but if you are managing a channel, you need to manage it. And by that I mean both channels that they are managing and not just the Primary Care Channel.

Nice bolding, though why in that case did the Commonwealth Government only set a 25% target for Vic Gov to deliver vaccines? And why did the Commonwealth Government create the mix messaging situation on AZ that it did? And yes as I stated earlier the Vic Gov stepped in because the Commonwealth Government was not engaging enough GP's

If the Commonwealth managed GP Channel was not getting enough GPs coming forward then they should have taken steps to improve the situation.

With the GP RC's that were approved in Victoria many were limited in supply. So even if the total numbers of GP's were less then they could still have distributed more vaccines through the channel if they had been on the ball.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Looks like there is some reporting on the vaccine distribution

‘Hunger Games’: NSW grabs vaccines

NSW is grabbing an unfair share of vaccines in a “Hunger Games” style tussle with the other states, leaving them to fall behind what they deserve to be allocated per head of population.

www.news.com.au

As I have stated many times, my personal belief is that it was appropriate that NSW be assigned extra vaccines recently as there was a strong health imperative to do so.

However now that the vaccines delivered in NSW (and not just NSW) is substantial the balance now needs to start to change as firstly adverse impacts are not just confined to NSW in terms of both health and the economy, and secondly there is after all meant to be a National Plan to open up the whole country.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Pharmacies are not administering Pfizer in NSW, currently only AZ and shortly Moderna. So Pharmacies coming on board as a channel in NSW earlier than other states has had zero impact on Pfizer roll out here.

I don't think anyone claimed it did?

My concern however is total vaccinations and not just Pfizer.

I have no doubt if Pharmacists had of been deployed earlier in Vic that many more people would have taken advantage of them to have been vaccinated with AZ due to the great convenience of the widespread locations. AZ vaccination rates have been good in Victoria. Getting pharmacists involved earlier would have made it better.

Plus in suburbs with a strong ethnic bias the Pharmacist and/or staff will often also be from that same ethnic community. And with those cultural and language links you get an improved uptake. And with many ethnic communities this has been shown to be very important in overcoming vaccine hesitancy and vaccine misinformation.

Lastly getting more Pharmacists up and running earlier will also then made the Moderna rollout all the more efficient.

 

[justinbrett]

Looks like there is some reporting on the vaccine distribution

‘Hunger Games’: NSW grabs vaccines

NSW is grabbing an unfair share of vaccines in a “Hunger Games” style tussle with the other states, leaving them to fall behind what they deserve to be allocated per head of population.

www.news.com.au

No, that’s reporting on the ABC reporting. Their only source is the ABC report.

The guy from covidlive thinks the numbers are wrong. Like some people in this thread, ABC is trying to make an argument based on incomplete statistics. Quite a coincidence this story broke just days after the UK deal.

The comments about future allocation is just laughable. We’ve got 10 million doses a month. I doubt any state can distribute their pro rata share of that whilst still giving out AZ on top and still complain they don’t have enough.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434848399174471687

 

[jakeseven7]

Of course it is more complex than that, but if you are managing a channel, you need to manage it. And by that I mean both channels that they are managing and not just the Primary Care Channel.

Nice bolding, though why in that case did the Commonwealth Government only set a 25% target for Vic Gov to deliver vaccines? And why did the Commonwealth Government create the mix messaging situation on AZ that it did? And yes as I stated earlier the Vic Gov stepped in because the Commonwealth Government was not engaging enough GP's

If the Commonwealth managed GP Channel was not getting enough GPs coming forward then they should have taken steps to improve the situation.

With the GP RC's that were approved in Victoria many were limited in supply. So even if the total numbers of GP's were less then they could still have distributed more vaccines through the channel if they had been on the ball.

Also not all GP’s that applied were given vaccines / massively staggered and tiered rollout that is another way the Feds are (still) controlling that channel.

Quite rightly they urgently approved a bunch more and increased doses to others to try and help with the NSW disaster but I do agree it’s now time for QLD and VIC especially to be reprioritised, because these two big states are sitting ducks.

 

[justinbrett]

Another stats heavyweight seems to think the story is false.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Q: were all GPs across the country given the same level of Pfizer doses?

I think we all agree there are more approved GPs in NSW (per capita) than elsewhere.

 

[OATEK]

Q: were all GPs across the country given the same level of Pfizer doses?

I think we all agree there are more approved GPs in NSW (per capita) than elsewhere.

Not all GPs were given pfizer

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Not all GPs were given pfizer

Thanks - then the questions might be:
a) did NSW have a higher Pfizer GP count (per capita)?
b) how was the GP's weekly/daily pfizer allocation determined?

 

[Must...Fly!]

Another stats heavyweight seems to think the story is false.

View attachment 257758

What a pathetically low day for the country.

I am disgusted at the poor level of "journalism" in the original article which, frankly, reads like a piece from the Daily Mail. And I am even more disgusted at the political game playing over it.

I have just read Casey Briggs thread on this, he is clearly of the opinion that the story written by his own employer is wrong.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1435051873073913871

Disgraceful.