UK has ‘cut corners’ and is taking ‘unnecessary risks’ in Covid vaccine rollout, claims Scott Morrison

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suggested the UK government has “cut corners” and is taking “unnecessary risks” in distributing the Covid-19 vaccine faster than authorities in Australia.

Mr Morrison has come under pressure to accelerate Australia’s vaccine schedule, which currently entails the rollout to begin in March.

On Tuesday, Mr Morrison told 3AW radio station that Australia “is not in an emergency situation like the United Kingdom”.

“So we don’t have to cut corners. We don’t have to take unnecessary risks,” he said.

He said Britain, with almost 60,000 cases of Covid-19 a day, was only “in the very early phases” of the vaccine rollout and has “had quite a few problems… and they’re doing it on an emergency basis”.

In December, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese called on the PM to plan for the distribution of the vaccine to begin as soon as the Australian Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) made its decision on the Pfizer vaccine in January, rather than waiting until March.

Mr Albanese told the ABC that while Labor supported the Association doing its work “without interference”, it made “no sense” to delay rollout once approval was granted.

“Also, there’s only been provision made for 10m doses [of the Pfizer vaccine] – quite clearly we’re going to need more than that. And so we need more vaccines, more quickly,” he said.

Mr Morrison slammed Mr Albanese’s call to fast-track the vaccine as “very dangerous”, prompting former Conservative PM Malcolm Turnbull to comment on social media that health expert, Professor Raina Macintyre, “makes a powerful case for accelerating vaccination and NOT waiting until March”.

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Late on Monday, Allen Cheng, the current Chair of the Advisory Committee for Vaccines, said “we can afford to wait for the TGA to do its job and make sure we’re getting a safe, effective and quality vaccine”.

He also commented on social media: “It is worth noting that other regulatory agencies have generally given ‘temporary’ approvals or ‘emergency use authorisation’ reflecting that not all the data is available yet.”

However, Rob Hackett from the PatientSafe Network said “the only real reason there’d be a delay in Covid-19 Australia vaccination(s) would be we don’t have [the] vaccine to roll out. If we have access to an effective vaccine to delay is unsound and perhaps unethical”.

“In relation to the Pfizer vaccine,” he wrote on social media, “there is no ‘job’ the TGA would be doing to ensure any additional safety… it has already been administered to millions of people”.

Perth-based Australian GP Dr George Crisp told The Telegraph that he has been “hearing conflicting views” on the timing of the roll out.

“Seems to be push from most medics to get healthcare/ high risk groups early but reticence by others on the basis we might want to see more experience from overseas first as we probably have some time,” he said.

“I think it reflects some anxiety in healthcare workers that delay will leave us and high-risk patients exposed and vulnerable in the not unlikely event of a bigger wave of infections.”

Australia had 279 active cases across the country on Tuesday, according to Department of Health estimates.