PRESS CONFERENCE - PM

DR BRIAN MCNAMEE AO: Well, welcome. I would like to welcome the Prime Minister and the Health Minister here today to Seqirus facilities in Melbourne, it's a really proud day for CSL. Today we're marking the announcement of going into the final stages of vaccine production next week. Australian made vaccine, enough for all Australians. And we're really proud that CSL is making such a strong contribution to the nation's health. So we're very proud. I'd like to take a moment just to recognise the people of CSL. This hasn't been a 9 to 5 effort. We've been working around the clock. It's been a 24/7 activity, we’ve had our CSL  Behring site in Broadmeadows, up the road and here in Parkville at our Seqirus facilities. We start the final stage of production early next week. So we deeply thank the people at CSL, it’s not only been a priority in their work life. But we know, we've asked them to work long hours and having to work weekends. It's also been a priority in they home life. So we thank them and we hope their families for the commitment. I’d also like to thank AstraZeneca. It has been a fantastic collaboration to get to where we are and the TGA for their support in getting us to this position. We're about to make enough vaccines for every Australian, right here on Australian soil. We know there's a long way to go, but we're ready. We're ready to step into that responsibility and we feel very proud to be able to make that contribution. On that note, I'd like to welcome the Prime Minister to say a few words.

 

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today and to be also joined by Greg Hunt, the Minister for Health and Aged Care. To Brian, to you and the whole team right across the CSL family, particularly Seqirus here. You know, this facility has been doing this for around, more than 100 years right here where we are. And they've seen plenty of challenges in the past and they've met them and they're doing it again here today. Our vaccination programme and strategy is on track. And that's confirmed again by the visit that the Minister for Health and I have made here today. I also really want to thank all of the workers in the process whether out at Broadmeadows or they are here or anywhere along the chain. I want to thank the Therapeutic Goods Administration and all of those doing the work that they're doing to make sure that the work that has been done here, can forward and ultimately receive, we believe, the authorisation that will come from them

 

I've often said through this pandemic that I've never been more proud of Australians. And I can tell you as I walked around that floor today and I spoke to those who were going through that final stage, filling those vials and making sure they're going out safe, secure, to support the health and the recovery of Australians and to see the pride in their own eyes about the job they're doing for Australia. I tell you, it hits you. It really does. And, you know, that's the response of Australians right across the country. It's small businesses keeping their show together, keeping their employees on, finding their way through, understanding the challenges. Same is true here, the professionalism, the dedication, the very long hours. People here have been working long hours for a long time to deliver this, and they're doing it to deliver for Australia. And I want to thank them very much for that.

 

So our vaccination programme, it's on track and it's sovereign. We're doing it here in Australia, right here in Melbourne. And that is something that few Prime Ministers and Presidents around the world can say, because we are one of a handful of countries that made the decision to be able to ensure we had this capability here in Australia, by Australians. Brian, to you and the whole CSL family, I want to thank you for your dedication to see that realised here for your country. So within a matter of weeks, starting next week, as they finish, they do the final stage of that process. I call it the bottling process, the scientists have another name for it. But what that means is they bottle it and then they check it, and they check it, and then they check it again to make sure that when it goes out and when you go to your GP clinic or the place that you will go to get your vaccination, you can have great confidence not just in the vaccine itself, but the Australian production process that actually got it to that clinic where you received that vaccination for you and your family.

 

So it is another important day today. That final phase of that production process starts here Monday. Of course, they'll be working 24/7 in March, mid to late March, they'll be rolling more than a million doses out of here a week. That's a big production effort and that is going to change the country for the better. And for those who are producing that here, we just simply say thank you for the service that you're providing to your country. 

 

Before I hand over to Greg, I’ll just make a quick comment on the challenges we're currently facing in Victoria regarding the most recent cases. We've dealt with these before, got on top of them before, dealt with them in the last few weeks, in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth. And so a proportionate response by the Victorian government, which I understand from what we've been hearing this morning and the Health Minister's been in contact with his counterpart here in Melbourne, a proportionate response that enables those tracers and others to be able to get on top of it and get the same successful result that we've seen in other states that can and will be achieved here. Our role as the federal government is to support those efforts, to support Premiers, to support health ministers, to support the health workers here, to ensure that they can do the best they possibly can in the job that they have. So we thank all those who are doing what they're doing at the moment. I thank Melburnians and Victorians more broadly for their patience over many, many months in the past. I know you don't want to see Victoria go back into what you had to endure last year. And I can assure you everyone is doing everything to ensure that that is not replicated again on this occasion. There's no reason that it should, as other states have demonstrated, we can get on top of this pretty quickly, and I have reason for confidence that they can do the same thing by following that same process. So with that, I'll pass on to Greg.

 

THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks very much, Prime Minister and Steve, CSL is a great Australian company doing great things for Australians. Their workers, as the Prime Minister said, literally working around the clock. Many of them have barely seen their families. They're doing it because they believe in their work. They believe in the value of what they're doing to bring vaccines to all Australians, to protect all Australians. And it couldn't be a more noble cause, it couldn't be a more professional group of highly trained Australians who are focussed on safety, safety, safety and ensuring that they keep Australians safe and that they deliver vaccines that will protect them. And so I really want to offer my personal thanks, I think in years to come when we look at the course of the pandemic in Australia, and every day we see the agony and the tragedy around the world, cases which thankfully are beginning to come down globally, but still often over 400,000 a day and sometimes over 10,000 lives lost. We compare that with where we are in Australia. No lives lost this year, which is almost inconceivable. And we see that we've done an incredible job as a country. But the next phase is on track. It's been planned. It's been prepared. And that's the vaccine rollout. We are on track for the Pfizer vaccine to commence in late February, on track for the AstraZeneca international- subject to the TGA approval to commence in early March and most significantly, on track for the AstraZeneca-CSL Australian made vaccine to commence, as the Prime Minister said in late March, subject to the final tick of approval from the TGA. All of those are proceeding, and that means we are on track to complete this vaccination programme for Australians by the end of October. Thank you very much. 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Okay. We’ll take some questions.

 

JOURNALIST: Had you considered emergency approval for this vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine, given the situation we’ve been seeing in Melbourne?

 

PRIME MINISTER: No, there is no advice to us that that will even be necessary. See, we haven't gone through emergency procedures here in Australia because we've been able to prevent emergencies here in Australia. And that has been principally through, I think, the great sacrifice and patience of Australians that put us in the strong position to follow the normal procedures. Now, that's important, I think, so I can stand in front of Australians and give the assurances that I have been giving, and Greg Hunt has been giving. But our process has been the normal process, the one where every ‘i’ is dotted, every ‘t’ is crossed, all the relevant medical professionals ask all the relevant questions they have to and have the time to make sure they get the answers so that when they give it the tick, you can get the jab. 

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister sorry to detract from positive news this morning, but Pete Evans is making a run for the Senate, do you think that will undermine the confidence in the vaccination rollout? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: No.

 

JOURNALIST: Would the government consider asking CSL to look at producing some of the other vaccines which have been proven to be more effective? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Look, I've- happy to cover that but I might let Greg,

 

THE HON. GREG HUNT, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Sure, what we’ve learned from CSL is that CSL can do just about anything. It was almost impossible that they could retool, that they could divert their entire processes and they've done this. So we'll continue to work with CSL and other companies on what's needed. At the moment we're in the fortunate position of we've secured 20 million Pfizer mRNA, I think that's what you're referring to. We've also just signed a major, multi-year deal, best part of a decade and beyond with CSL for vaccinations- vaccines and antivenom. And that in turn is allowing them to invest in a new plant. So we'll let them talk about their new cell based manufacturing. But they will be producing in Melbourne a state of the art new vaccination plant because of long term. So we'll continue to be guided. But right now, we had to get the vaccines in, the world has never had an mRNA vaccine. So we've got the best vaccine production overseas and the best vaccine production in Australia.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you going to be leaving Victoria as soon as possible, considering we might be locked down tonight or tomorrow or in the coming days? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was here yesterday and I was here today to be here. So after [inaudible] my programme here, I was heading back to Sydney that was my plan. 

 

JOURNALIST: Are you, have you been- or are you aware what is going to happen? Have you been briefed by the Victorian government at all? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: No, as far as I’m aware no decisions have been announced, and so I'm in the same position as you at this point that I've been touring a facility for the last sort of half an hour so there hasn’t really been that opportunity.

 

JOURNALIST: What would be a proportionate response that you’d stand for?

 

PRIME MINISTER: There have been proportionate responses offered in other states. But look, I'm going to leave it to the Premier to make his announcement. I'm not here to run commentaries on Premiers. I'm here to support Premiers in keeping people safe and keeping their economies as open as possible to support people's jobs. 

 

JOURNALIST: Would you say that same message to other states? In considering whether to announce border closures with Victoria?

 

PRIME MINISTER: I support proportionate responses by other states as well. And I've always said my hope is that states do that.

 

JOURNALIST: So a three or five day lock down as we’ve seen in other cities, do you-

 

PRIME MINISTER: I’m not going to speculate on what the Premier may or may not do, I’m going to let the Premier make his announcements and to weigh up the things that he has to weigh up, in making any decisions that they will make here in Victoria. I don't think it would be fair for me to be making comments in advance of what he may or may not announce. I think that's the right thing for public confidence.

 

JOURNALIST: Has he spoken to you in the last 24 hours?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?

 

JOURNALIST: Has he spoken to you in last 24 hours?

 

PRIME MINISTER: We texted each other yesterday. I was in Melbourne, and we texted each other yesterday.

 

JOURNALIST: When do you expect the AstraZeneca vaccine will be approved? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: We're moving very swiftly on that in accordance with the normal protocols. I don't want to pre-empt that. But I mean, Greg may want to offer further comment, but we're getting close. Now, remember the AstraZeneca vaccine? There are two authorisations that will come from the TGA. There is the authorisation that will come for the imported vaccines, that will come through. And then there is the authorisation that will come for the AstraZeneca vaccine and the manufacturing process here in Australia. So they are two separate decisions. The second one obviously builds on the first in terms of the actual vaccine itself. But as the TGA should, it then also needs to enquire into the process itself and be absolutely satisfied that it can give authorisation for the Australian manufactured vaccinations as well- vaccine as well.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you think this could have been avoided if hotel workers, frontline workers had been able to get that vaccine earlier?

 

PRIME MINISTER: The vaccination programme will commence first with hotel workers, quarantine workers, those vulnerable populations, you're familiar with the rollout plan, I think it is unrealistic, unrealistic to think that any quarantine programme, wherever it's run, has some sort of a 100 per cent failsafe. And I think we just have to bring some reality to the understanding of this issue. We have had breaches before and we've got on top of them quickly. That is my belief of what will happen here in Victoria. 220,000 people. 220,000 people have been through the quarantine system around this country and there have been a very small relative number of breaches. Handful of breaches, breaches is one thing then what you do to contain them is the next ring of containment, and the social distancing and all of those other measures, all of that has proven, particularly over the last month where we have had some tests of the system and the system has held up. So as the year goes on, Australians should and can feel more confident. And if they hear of a case number here or there, they should do as they've done in the past. And increasingly, I think the tolerance for risk and the responses that are required will moderate over the course of the year. And that is greatly assisted, of course, when individual cases are not represented as something quite catastrophic. That's not the case. The systems are there to deal with it. And that's what will happen here in Victoria.

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on Crown Resorts. Are you confident that they can clean up their act and they can operate their casinos around the country without being a source of criminal activity?

 

PRIME MINISTER: Look, really, that's not a matter that the federal government is directly involved in at all. That's a matter that state based regulators are involved in. That’s right, and that's why we have state based regulators that do that job. And so they are familiar with the precise issues that need management within Crown. And I would expect Crown under their board to ensure they deal with all the issues that have been raised in those licencing processes. That's what I'd expect them to do. That's what that regulation is for. And that's run by competent state authorities. 

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister with the final touches of the vaccine, particularly the manufacturing process, can that go ahead still without that final tick of approval from the TGA, do we basically get right up to the point of having the jab? Is that the only point that we need to really have the TGA ticked off on? 

 

PRIME MINISTER:B Well, for anyone to have the vaccine, obviously, it's needs the TGA’s approval, but I mean, we've been working on this process of producing these vaccines I mean, I was last out at Broadmeadows in November of last year. We have been getting on with it and that means that once TGA approval is in place and then you've got the distribution and you've got all the testing that is going on in parallel to all of that, then that will enable us to to implement the vaccination strategy as we've outlined it to.

 

JOURNALIST: We’re talking about the biggest vaccine rollout the nation's ever seen, are you not concerned about an anti-vaxxer running for the Senate? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that all depends how much publicity you choose to give him. I'm not going to give him any, so I don't propose you do that.

 

JOURNALIST: Just on the CSL on this vaccine that’s being manufactured here, do you think the countries at a greater advantage have the vaccine? 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Can you say that again?

 

JOURNALIST: Do you think the country is going to be at a greater advantage having a vaccine manufactured here that can be transported at about, I think it was 7 degrees Celsius, is that right? As opposed to the minus 70 degrees for some of the other vaccines. 

 

PRIME MINISTER: Look all of, each of the vaccines have their advantages. And obviously, AstraZeneca’s vaccine does for a large country like Australia. Have that advantage of being able to reach further and further into the country, particularly into remote areas, particularly in supporting our indigenous communities and rural and remote communities. There's no doubt about that. It's a different logistical challenge. But that doesn't at all mean that the logistics of the sub 70 degree temperatures that Pfizer has to be dealt with are not overcome either. We've got a distribution process for that which deals with that challenge. And, you know, when I talk to other leaders on these issues, which we often do, the discussions get very practical and we all use different phrases, eskies, chilly beans or, you know, whatever the other more technical terms are. But they are the practical issues leaders are dealing with the distribution of those vaccines. But I tell you, one thing I'm glad we've got here in Australia is that they're Australian made and they're being produced here. The early phase of the vaccination programme obviously drawing on the import of those vaccines and we’re getting very close. And I want to particularly, again, thank all of those who've done the great work in ensuring the continuity of those supply chains, of the vaccines that we've been able to procure and I want to acknowledge Minister Hunt for the fabulous job he's done in keeping all of that together and on track. My message today is very simple. Our vaccination programme is on track. It's safe. It is being produced by Australians to keep Australians safe. 

 

Thank you all very much.