1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,680
Speaker 1: But joining us on the line right now is the

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:04,880
Speaker 1: Let me just make sure I've got this line up.

3
00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,280
Speaker 1: It is a Northern Territory Health Deputy Chief Executive, Michelle McKay.

4
00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Michelle.

5
00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:11,639
Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie.

6
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,600
Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. Michelle. Where are

7
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,319
Speaker 1: we at with the COVID nineteen vaccine roll out in

8
00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:18,440
Speaker 1: the territory at the moment?

9
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I've got some numbers for you that I

10
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,600
Speaker 2: thought you might be interested to know. So this information

11
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,640
Speaker 2: is as at the end of Tuesday this week I

12
00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:36,160
Speaker 2: come as recent comprehensive information we've got. So we're over

13
00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,360
Speaker 2: thirty thousand doses have been given in the territory now,

14
00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,280
Speaker 2: twenty thousand of those by the Northern Territory Government program

15
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,600
Speaker 2: and the balance ten thousand by our general practitioners, our

16
00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,120
Speaker 2: art chose sector and by the Commonwealth who's been vaccinating

17
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,920
Speaker 2: our vulnerable people in residential aged care facilities. I thought

18
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 2: you might be interested that well over two thirds of

19
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,920
Speaker 2: people living in residential aged care facilities are fully vaccinated

20
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 2: now excellent, which is good, and in fact, across the

21
00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:15,400
Speaker 2: whole territory we're over we're approaching eight thousand people who

22
00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:20,000
Speaker 2: are fully vaccinating, meaning they've had two doses. So we're

23
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:25,120
Speaker 2: pleased about that. I think what we'd really like to

24
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,480
Speaker 2: share with your listeners today is people will know that

25
00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,440
Speaker 2: after the recalibration of the programs with that changed advice

26
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,680
Speaker 2: based on age, that we talked about opening up more

27
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,679
Speaker 2: access points for people. So where we are now is

28
00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:46,880
Speaker 2: that within Darwin and Alice Springs, people can go on

29
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,920
Speaker 2: to the NTI Coronavirus website and if you're eligible to

30
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,040
Speaker 2: be vaccinated now you can book in your appointment either

31
00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,560
Speaker 2: in a participating GP practice or in one of the

32
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:04,040
Speaker 2: end he health clinic. So I think that's important for

33
00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,560
Speaker 2: people that we can go through who are the group?

34
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I am keen to do that because we

35
00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:11,480
Speaker 1: have had quite a few people get in contact and

36
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,880
Speaker 1: say they're not sure if they're eligible at the moment

37
00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,480
Speaker 1: or when their time is going to come and they're

38
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,680
Speaker 1: going to be eligible to receive the vaccine. I know

39
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:21,880
Speaker 1: a lot of our seniors have been really good about

40
00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,920
Speaker 1: this in terms of finding out when they're eligible, but

41
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,360
Speaker 1: maybe some of us younger ones aren't as onto it.

42
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's true. So perhaps if I just

43
00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,280
Speaker 2: go through quite simply who is eligible now, so any

44
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:41,240
Speaker 2: adult who's over the age of fifty, any adult at

45
00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:46,720
Speaker 2: all who has an underlying medical condition, so irrespective of age, yep.

46
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,320
Speaker 2: And of course those high priority groups that we've talked

47
00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:55,360
Speaker 2: about a lot, healthcare workers, whether that's in a GP

48
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 2: practice or a private physiotherapist or a pharmacist, healthcare workers,

49
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 2: aged care and disability workers, our emergency and fire service workers,

50
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,679
Speaker 2: as well as quarantine workers of course and now quarantine

51
00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,799
Speaker 2: workers family members. So it's actually quite a large cohort

52
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:22,520
Speaker 2: are now eligible, meaning that they can go online and

53
00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:24,040
Speaker 2: source their appointment.

54
00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:29,239
Speaker 1: And Michelle, out of the thirty thousand that have been vaccinated, now,

55
00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,080
Speaker 1: is that number ash where you'd hope that you'd be

56
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:33,440
Speaker 1: at at this point in time.

57
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 2: Yes, So it's been a you know, it has been

58
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,800
Speaker 2: an unusual role out in that at the start we

59
00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,240
Speaker 2: were quite constrained, you might recall, by the amount of

60
00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,160
Speaker 2: vaccination doses that we had, and we had to be

61
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,600
Speaker 2: purposely very targeted about the high risk individuals, and we

62
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,240
Speaker 2: did those Phase one A people early. We then had

63
00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,560
Speaker 2: the targeting advice that sort of caused thought to having

64
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:02,840
Speaker 2: a bit of a pause and work out how we

65
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,960
Speaker 2: were going to recalibrate the program based on that advice,

66
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 2: and now we're at a point where we've got those

67
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,760
Speaker 2: changes in place and where we're progressing forward. There still

68
00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 2: are some constraints about supply into the future. There you

69
00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,800
Speaker 2: will get supply at various times. But the message is

70
00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:27,839
Speaker 2: for people, if you're in an eligible group, book your appointment,

71
00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,200
Speaker 2: have your first JAB and the more people that we

72
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,559
Speaker 2: can get vaccinated, of course, the better.

73
00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,480
Speaker 1: Michelle. How long do you think it will take before

74
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:42,160
Speaker 1: we go to the next stage vaccinating those under fifty.

75
00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,440
Speaker 2: It's a little bit hard to say with any sort

76
00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 2: of app So this is people who are under fifty

77
00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,400
Speaker 2: who don't fit into any of those categories that I said.

78
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,120
Speaker 2: I'd like to think perhaps by the middle of the

79
00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:02,679
Speaker 2: year we should have some incoming favor allocations for that group,

80
00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,840
Speaker 2: but it is a bit of a moving feast, and

81
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,080
Speaker 2: so it's hard to be too precise. But I think

82
00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,200
Speaker 2: the strong message at the moment is there's lots of

83
00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:18,080
Speaker 2: Territorians who are indeed eligible right now, and the more

84
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:23,120
Speaker 2: people that have their vaccination, it provides a protection for

85
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:23,800
Speaker 2: all of us.

86
00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,040
Speaker 1: Michelle, do you reckon that there's people out there that

87
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,800
Speaker 1: don't realize they're eligible at the moment, or do you

88
00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,479
Speaker 1: reckon that there's some people who are worried about getting it.

89
00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,560
Speaker 2: Look, I think I think there's probably both of those, Katie,

90
00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,520
Speaker 2: in terms of people knowing whether they're eligible or indeed

91
00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:47,000
Speaker 2: how to access an appointment to get a vaccination. We're

92
00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,800
Speaker 2: certainly putting information out on social media with the links

93
00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,760
Speaker 2: that you can go to, and that provides ability to

94
00:05:55,279 --> 00:06:00,600
Speaker 2: go through into those eligible sorry participating GP practices and

95
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,280
Speaker 2: respiratory clinics as well as the Northern Territory government clinics.

96
00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:10,520
Speaker 2: We're ramping up that communication, if you like, and we'll

97
00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,799
Speaker 2: see some information hopefully in the paper on the weekend

98
00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,200
Speaker 2: for example, so the people are really aware of that.

99
00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,280
Speaker 2: We do know that there's still, of course, people who

100
00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:27,000
Speaker 2: are hesitant about getting the vaccination. That remains the case,

101
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,960
Speaker 2: and we continue to encourage those people to talk to

102
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:37,120
Speaker 2: their healthcare provider. Because we've now got many many people

103
00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,960
Speaker 2: thirty thousand nearly in the territory alone who've had our

104
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,840
Speaker 2: first shot, and I think we're approaching three million in

105
00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:50,000
Speaker 2: the country. You know, we've got lots of people who

106
00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:55,520
Speaker 2: have had the vaccinations without significant side effects. Recognizing there

107
00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 2: is that small risk for one of the vaccinations.

108
00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,200
Speaker 1: Michelle, I've got a question here from Annie and it says, Hi, Katie,

109
00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,520
Speaker 1: can you please ask if the people who have already

110
00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,800
Speaker 1: done their first astrosenica vaccine and were sick, if they

111
00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,040
Speaker 1: chose to do the PIZ or is that something that

112
00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,920
Speaker 1: they're allowed to do. I've asked my GP and he

113
00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,440
Speaker 1: says that he's unaware of what he can do in

114
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:20,080
Speaker 1: that case.

115
00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,120
Speaker 2: So a couple of points there. The first is you

116
00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,880
Speaker 2: can't mix the vaccines. So if astrasenica was the one

117
00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,520
Speaker 2: you had first, then that's the one you need to

118
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,400
Speaker 2: have second to complete your course if you like to

119
00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:41,200
Speaker 2: be fully vaccinated. I'm not sure when your listener said

120
00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,040
Speaker 2: that she was sick with the first one. We do

121
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,960
Speaker 2: expect lots of people, in fact, probably have to have

122
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,040
Speaker 2: a reaction to a vaccination for bit of a headache,

123
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,680
Speaker 2: perhaps feeling a bit weary, and that's actually quite normal.

124
00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,880
Speaker 2: The very small tiny portion of people who are having

125
00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,840
Speaker 2: that significant adverse event are of course a small group

126
00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,520
Speaker 2: being managed very differently, but it's a very small number

127
00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,280
Speaker 2: of people, and I would venture to suggest that your

128
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,360
Speaker 2: listener probably fits in the first category. And she's had

129
00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,160
Speaker 2: a reaction to the vaccine. That's actually a good thing,

130
00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,240
Speaker 2: it means your bodies responding.

131
00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, I know that both my brother and sister

132
00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,040
Speaker 1: in law, they live in the UK actually where the

133
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,280
Speaker 1: vaccine indeed is being rolled out, and they had said

134
00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,080
Speaker 1: one of them said that they had bad bruising on

135
00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,720
Speaker 1: their arm, but that went away fairly quickly, even though

136
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,120
Speaker 1: interestingly the vaccine didn't hurt at all, and then the

137
00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,240
Speaker 1: other did end up with flu like symptoms. But both

138
00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:43,680
Speaker 1: who I guess for that different perspective for us in

139
00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,880
Speaker 1: the territory because they've been living somewhere where they've been

140
00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,960
Speaker 1: in full lockdown. Both said to me, I cannot understand

141
00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,480
Speaker 1: why anybody wouldn't get the vaccine, you know, after living

142
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:57,040
Speaker 1: somewhere where they've been hit so incredibly hard by COVID.

143
00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,600
Speaker 1: You know, they had really said that it's such an

144
00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,680
Speaker 1: important thing to do, you know, especially, and I guess

145
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:05,120
Speaker 1: it's more evident for them when you're living somewhere where

146
00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,160
Speaker 1: you've been in lockdown for such a long time.

147
00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,120
Speaker 2: Well, that's absolutely correct. I mean, you know, we are

148
00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,120
Speaker 2: so fortunate in the territory and largely in Australia, generally

149
00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:20,840
Speaker 2: that we are living a relatively normal life, and we

150
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:26,640
Speaker 2: have seen very thankfully a small proportion of people become

151
00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:30,559
Speaker 2: ill and an even smaller proportion die. But of course,

152
00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:32,840
Speaker 2: if you live in parts of the UK, parts of

153
00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:37,000
Speaker 2: the US, every family would either have a family member

154
00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,599
Speaker 2: or a friend who had died. That's the volume of

155
00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:46,760
Speaker 2: people that have really been terribly affected. And so you

156
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,480
Speaker 2: can certainly understand the different views that your family's expressing.

157
00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,199
Speaker 2: They're saying, goodness, gracious, we really want to get out

158
00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,160
Speaker 2: of this. We're in a different position, but we equally,

159
00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,920
Speaker 2: you know, people want to be able to open the

160
00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,920
Speaker 2: country back up. We want the ability to travel and

161
00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,760
Speaker 2: live the life that we did, and that means we

162
00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:07,040
Speaker 2: need to be vaccinated.

163
00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:09,640
Speaker 1: Another question, Michelle from Melissa and I know that you

164
00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:12,959
Speaker 1: are pressed for time, as are we. One here that says, hi, Katie,

165
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: can you ask if you're allowed to choose which vaccine

166
00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:16,800
Speaker 1: you have?

167
00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:23,000
Speaker 2: No? The answer now is no. The vaccines are given

168
00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:27,199
Speaker 2: according to that age breakdown, with the very rare exception

169
00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,839
Speaker 2: of a couple of very particular health issues that if

170
00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,400
Speaker 2: you had your health advisor would have advised you what

171
00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:40,680
Speaker 2: to do in that circumstuct, but largely at the moment,

172
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,719
Speaker 2: it's lit on age.

173
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,280
Speaker 1: Okay, so it is definitely an age based thing. Have

174
00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,079
Speaker 1: you had a situation, Michelle, where any of that vaccine

175
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,160
Speaker 1: has had to be destroyed or gone to waste because

176
00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,440
Speaker 1: you haven't been able to get it out in a

177
00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:56,480
Speaker 1: time in the timeframe that you need to.

178
00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,800
Speaker 2: So there's a couple of a couple of aspects to that.

179
00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,640
Speaker 2: These are multi dose vials, which is an unusual way

180
00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,000
Speaker 2: for us to give vaccine. So basically, if there's ten

181
00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,360
Speaker 2: shots in the vial and you've only got six people

182
00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,800
Speaker 2: booked in for their vaccinations, then unless you can use

183
00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:18,080
Speaker 2: those other four doses within the very tight timeframe that

184
00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,559
Speaker 2: we're allowed to, then you are going to have some wastage.

185
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,360
Speaker 2: And I use the term we very broadly, meaning everyone

186
00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:31,000
Speaker 2: who's responsible for giving vaccines are doing our absolutely best

187
00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,839
Speaker 2: to minimize that wastage because we know that there's a

188
00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,120
Speaker 2: lot of people who want vaccine, so we don't want

189
00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,480
Speaker 2: to waste it. It's a bit more complicated in the

190
00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:43,880
Speaker 2: remote areas there's not other people. You know, if you've

191
00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:45,720
Speaker 2: got some left in the bottle, you might not have

192
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,280
Speaker 2: anyone else who's ready to have a vaccine yet, But

193
00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:54,160
Speaker 2: generally speaking, across the territory, our wastage rates have been

194
00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,080
Speaker 2: quite comparable with other areas well.

195
00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,880
Speaker 1: It sounds as though things are rolling through as quickly

196
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,080
Speaker 1: as we can hope. I guess at this point how quickly,

197
00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,559
Speaker 1: I guess it's way too early to tell. But how

198
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:08,760
Speaker 1: quickly do you hope that you know that everybody in

199
00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:10,319
Speaker 1: the territory is vaccinated?

200
00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,720
Speaker 2: It is a bit difficult to tell. What I'd like

201
00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,400
Speaker 2: to think is that the amount of vaccination we've got

202
00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,600
Speaker 2: in the territory is being used so that you know,

203
00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,400
Speaker 2: people are accessing it now that it's available, that they're

204
00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,600
Speaker 2: getting their vaccination, and we're not in a position where

205
00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,320
Speaker 2: we've got, you know, spare doses. I think that's a

206
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:39,360
Speaker 2: good measure of success for us. And the supply coming in,

207
00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:42,880
Speaker 2: of course, is a bit outside our control. But if

208
00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,400
Speaker 2: we're able to assure ourselves that we're using what we've got,

209
00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:48,720
Speaker 2: meaning people are getting vaccinated, then I think that's a

210
00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:49,240
Speaker 2: good measure.

211
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,079
Speaker 1: And do we have as much supply coming in as

212
00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,040
Speaker 1: what we as what we want at this point?

213
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:59,440
Speaker 2: Michelle, Yes, at the moment, we actually have a capacity

214
00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:03,720
Speaker 2: to vaccine people, we've got supply, we've got our vaccination

215
00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,040
Speaker 2: teams working hard, so that's why we're really keen for

216
00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,480
Speaker 2: people who are in those large eligible groups to book

217
00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,840
Speaker 2: a book an appointment. Of course, I might just reiterate

218
00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,920
Speaker 2: that for Darwin and Alice Springs. Yep, the Tenant Creek

219
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,920
Speaker 2: community is well advanced in their vaccination and we expect

220
00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:25,360
Speaker 2: to announce arrangements for Catherine and to go in the

221
00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:26,280
Speaker 2: very near future.

222
00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,760
Speaker 1: Okay, well let us know andt Health Deputy Chief Executive

223
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,040
Speaker 1: Michelle McKay, we really appreciate your time this morning, especially

224
00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:35,880
Speaker 1: answering those questions for our listeners.

225
00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:37,640
Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks so much,