The failure of the Morrison Government to manage the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is leaving essential workers exposed to the deadly virus, delaying the recovery and leading to further lockdowns.
Only 597,000 – or 15 per cent – of the 4 million doses promised by the end of March have been administered. This means many healthcare workers and other frontline personnel have not been vaccinated.
The UK is currently administering more than half a million doses every day.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien
“The Federal Government is responsible for ensuring that all Australians get access to the vaccines as quickly as possible. They are failing to meet even the most conservative targets that they have set for themselves.
“The Morrison Government must be transparent about what has gone wrong and what can be done to fix it, this program is too important to be delayed further by a Federal Government trying to escape blame.
“The failure of this program puts frontline and other essential workers at risk. The fact that nearly 6 weeks after Scott Morrison got his vaccination we still have thousands of high-risk frontline workers unable to be vaccinated presents a risk to us all.
“The Morrison Government’s inability to manage this program is putting the lives and livelihoods of Australians at risk unnecessarily. All around the world there are examples of Governments moving faster and more efficiently.
“The UK Government has received criticism domestically for a bumpy rollout but is currently delivering more vaccines every two days than we have all year.”