On 5 January 2020 the world became aware that a highly infectious novel coronavirus had been discovered and sometime that month a number of Australian scientists became part of global search for a COVID-19 vaccine.
By the morning of 19 August 2020 Prime Minister Scott Morrison was announcing that Australia had secured 25 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine. By the evening of 19 August drug company AstraZeneca was stating that this announcement was not true.
This should have been a warning that worse organizational blunders were likely on the horizon.
Over the next four months there were repeated government announcements bragging about how many AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Novavax vaccine doses Morrison & Co had secured for Australia – until the total reached over 134 million doses.
Come January 2021 and the Morrison Government was now only talking about est. 50 million vaccine doses and by 14 February was warning that supply problems at home and abroad meant that only 700,000 doses were in hand.
An amount which (provided a miracle occurs and there is zero wastage from use of multi-dose vials) means that only 350,000 people can be fully vaccinated.
Is it any wonder that the national COVID-19 vaccination program rollout is a shambles and a rationing of vaccine doses is underway until more vaccine is available.
ABC News, 19 March 2021:
Health Minister Greg Hunt this week announced what would have been music to the ears of more than 6 million Australians — it's now your turn to get the coronavirus vaccine.
But for general practices across the country, the news sounded like thousands of phones that would not stop ringing.
The Australian government released a list of GP clinics that would be able to start vaccinations from March 22 and an online eligibility checker that gives a contact number for vaccine providers in your area.
Kathy Turner, a GP based near Geelong in Victoria, said the government told people to contact their GPs without giving prior warning to clinics, some of which had not yet received doses.
"You should have heard the phone — I couldn't believe it," Dr Turner said.
"It was a premature announcement on the government's part and it was done without consultation with general practice.
"My manager was on the ball and took control pretty quickly and put a recorded message to say 'please don't phone about getting the COVID vaccination, they haven't arrived yet and we'll be getting a limited number only to start off with'."
Junction Street Family Practice in Nowra on New South Wales' south coast is preparing to administer 100 COVID vaccinations a week.
But when the government released the list of GPs taking part in the Phase 1B rollout, practice manager Gail Lloyd was shocked to find her clinic was not on the list.
"We're not coming up as a vaccination centre because we're on the week two rollout but nobody's really specified that and now if our patients go looking at any of the websites they don't find us," Ms Lloyd said.
"I thought that was badly managed, they could have said there are other practices coming on board, ring your own practice first."
Mr Hunt has said the plan was always to make the announcement on Wednesday.
Low number of COVID doses assigned to GPs
Like many GPs across the country, Dr Turner's clinic has been given a small supply of the vaccine, just 80 doses per week.
It's a meager amount compared to up to the 140 flu vaccinations a day they gave to patients in April last year.
"If they're not giving them to us, how can we be blamed for not giving them?" she said.
John Hilton, a GP at the Grange Medical Centre in Cooloongup, south of Perth, said his clinic had only been assigned 50 COVID vaccines a week.
"It's not a case of our capacity, it's a case of what supplies will be given as to how many we vaccinate," Dr Hilton said.
"Last year we would have done 1,000 flu vaccines in a two-to-three-week period, without effecting the running of the practice.
"We can run these things — it's one of our core businesses, providing vaccinations — we've got the know-how and the resources to do it."
"This is a massive logistical effort on the part of GP clinics across Australia and we need all the support we can get from the government," Dr Price said.
"GP clinics on the front line are under an extraordinary amount of pressure and we need the government to communicate clearly with us.
"GPs need assurances on the supply chain of doses and predictable supply well ahead of time in order to match the demand with supply, staffing and practice logistics."
Thousands of clinics to deliver vaccine by April
Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy has said Australia is not in a hurry with the rollout and people should not badger their GPs.
"While some GP clinics are coming online next week, they won't be releasing appointments until they're sure of their vaccine deliveries, which are coming in the next day or two," he said.
Dr Hilton said the government may have been overconfident in its vaccine supply.
"Maybe they had a high expectation of being higher on the worldwide list," he said.
"But we've been doing the footwork to make sure our end will run seamlessly when it does."
Ms Lloyd said it was exciting to be part of the COVID vaccination roll-out but the process had become more complex than it needed to be.
"I think it is a shame that everybody couldn't just be vaccinating their own patients because it's always better for people to be going to their own practice where their medical record and history is," she said.
The government expects that 4,000 GP clinics will be able to administer the vaccines by the end of April.
