Advertisement

‘NO COUNTRY WILL’: Scott Morrison slams vaccine ‘myth’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dispelled a vaccination "myth" that he says has sparked debate “around the world”.

Speaking with Tracy Grimshaw on Channel Nine's A Current Affair, Mr Morrison explained almost 75 per cent of Australia’s population over the age of 70 has received at least one dose of a vaccine.

His answer prompted Grimshaw to ask: “How close to 100 per cent can you get it? Have you looked at the data on that?”

“No country will get to 100 per cent,” the PM responded.

“Just like no country is going to completely eradicate the virus. This is one of the myths that go around in the vaccination debate around the world.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference at Kirribilli House on July 9, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.
Scott Morrison shut down the idea of Australia ever reaching a 100 per cent vaccine rate, saying the notion is unrealistic. Source: Getty Images

Mentioning the vaccination rates of other countries around the world – like Israel, the only nation to have a two-dose vaccination rate higher than 65 per cent – Mr Morrison said it was important to “get a bit of perspective”.

"Other countries are moving forward with opening up because they have had millions of people who have actually contracted the virus and so there’s more antibodies that are there in that population in countries that have been riddled with Covid," the prime minister said.

“I’ll tell you one lead table where we sit very strongly on, and that is the low number of deaths in this country. And frankly, that has always been our country's focus on a state and federal level, that we did not want to see the tens of thousands, and indeed in some cases millions, of deaths we have seen in overseas countries occur here in Australia.”

Australia to get one million Pfizer a week

The nation will soon have access to one million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine each week when rollout-boosting supplies are brought forward.

From July 19, arrivals of Pfizer doses will increase to about one million a week with 4.5 million expected in August.

In the past two months between 300,000 and 350,000 doses were arriving each week.

Pfizer said the total number of doses the company was contracted to send to Australia had not changed from 40 million.

"We continue to work closely with the government to support the ramp up of their rollout program," a spokeswoman told AAP.

The vaccine shipments are being fast-tracked by several months, but the total order will not increase.

The government had projected receiving between 650,000 and 750,000 Pfizer doses each week in July and August.

Mr Morrison said one million weekly Pfizer doses would allow the rollout to be completed in coming months.

"That's what you need to hit in order to get the job done," he said.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.