The Federal Government and health authorities have assured Australians the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will pick-up pace as more general practice clinics join the program.
By the end of this week the number of clinics involved will double from 1500 to 3000, while Melbourne-based CSL is now pumping out the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic use to assist supply after the European Union earlier blocked some shipments.
“The daily and weekly numbers will continue to rise,” acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said.
Almost 842,000 doses have been administered since the program started more than a month ago.
The figure falls well short of the four million vaccinations originally promised by the Morrison government by the end of March.
Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud said Australia had been “badly let down” by the EU.
“The arithmetic is simple on this. We are three million short because of the EU, who cut us short,” he said.
Labor sees the situation differently, ascribing it to the “chaos and dysfunction” of the government.
Meanwhile, the Australian Technical Advisory Group is planning to meet on Wednesday to further discuss the case of a 44-year-old Melbourne man who developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca jab.
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It has been in contact with medicine and healthcare agencies analysing similar cases in Europe and the UK.
Professor Kidd said it was important to note from the overseas experience that one to two cases of thrombosis had been recorded in one million people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“By contrast, we know that the risk of death from COVID-19 remains at 1 to 2 deaths per 100 people infected,” Prof Kidd said.
In South Australia, a man infected with the South African strain of the virus remains in a critical condition in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
There were 10 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the 24 hours to Monday morning among returned overseas travellers already in quarantine, but there were no new cases of community transmission anywhere across the country.
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