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Katie Woolf spoke with NT Health Deputy Chief Executive Michelle McKay · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four point nine three sixteen.
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  Speaker 1: I know that so many of us are keeping a
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  Speaker 1: very close eye on the vaccine rollout and wondering exactly
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  Speaker 1: when our time may come for that vaccine. Now joining
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  Speaker 1: us on the line is Northern Territory Health Deputy Chief
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  Speaker 1: Executive Michelle McKay.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Michelle, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Michelle, I understand that you are overseeing the rollout
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  Speaker 1: of the vaccine here in the Northern Territory, aren't you.
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  Speaker 3: That's right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Now, how many vaccines have been administered so far
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  Speaker 2: in the territory.
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  Speaker 3: So, as you know, there's two arms to the program.
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  Speaker 3: There's the arm that the Northern Territory Government is doing
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  Speaker 3: and that the Comwealth government is doing. In total, we've
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  Speaker 3: delivered million, nineteen and a half thousand vaccinations already. The
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory Government's done just over thirteen thousand of those.
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  Speaker 1: And is that around on track as where you'd hope
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  Speaker 1: to be at this point in time?
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  Speaker 3: Well, certainly for the Northern Territory government program, our plan
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  Speaker 3: had been initially to vaccinate those Phase one A workers,
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  Speaker 3: the really high risk cohort quarantine and border workers and
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  Speaker 3: our frontline healthcare workers who were either working with or
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  Speaker 3: likely to be with COVID positive patients. We anticipated that
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  Speaker 3: to take the first eight weeks, and that group had done.
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  Speaker 3: Of course there's new people coming into the group and
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  Speaker 3: so on, but largely that group is done, and we're
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  Speaker 3: in now progressing with Phase one B, which for the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory government is healthcare workers and emergency workers.
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  Speaker 1: So all of those Phase one A predominantly are done
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  Speaker 1: and now Phase one B. How far through are you
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  Speaker 1: on that second phase?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's quite a large group, but we're pleased
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  Speaker 3: with the progress today. Of course, your listeners will know
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  Speaker 3: that a Targi gave us changed the device last week
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  Speaker 3: the National Specialist Committee, which has caused the whole country
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  Speaker 3: to have to recalibrate our program. So while we continue
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  Speaker 3: to vaccinate at the moment, we're having to do quite
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  Speaker 3: a bit of work about how we manage that changed advice.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Michelle, how has that changed advice really impacted the
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  Speaker 1: way in which the vaccine rollout is happening in the territory.
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  Speaker 3: So the advice is, of course that people for people
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  Speaker 3: under fifty, it is preferred that that group have the
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  Speaker 3: fizor vaccine preferred is the word that the Specialist Committee
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  Speaker 3: have used. They've said that people under fifty can have it,
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  Speaker 3: but only whether the benefit outweighs the risk, and people
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  Speaker 3: should talk to their health practitioner. What that means in
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  Speaker 3: practice is that up until now, the general practitioner and
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  Speaker 3: ARCHO sector have only had access to Astraseneko vaccine. So
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  Speaker 3: it means people that they were vaccinating who are under
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  Speaker 3: fifty are far less likely to be able to have
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  Speaker 3: that vaccine. Of course, and for healthcare workers and frontline workers,
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  Speaker 3: the group we are predominantly focused on, the bulk of
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  Speaker 3: those people are under fifty, so we are finding, of
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  Speaker 3: course a lot of those people are having prize records.
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  Speaker 3: It's causing us to reconsider how people access the vaccines
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  Speaker 3: because now age as well as their phase becomes the
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  Speaker 3: determining characters. And that's the case of course right across
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  Speaker 3: the country.
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  Speaker 1: And how is that impacting us in the territory right now?
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  Speaker 1: Like you said, there's now those two factors that come
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  Speaker 1: into play rather than rather than just the one I
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  Speaker 1: guess to begin with.
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  Speaker 3: So there are certainly some impacts for people who are
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  Speaker 3: under fifty who would have accessed their vaccine if they're
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  Speaker 3: in Phase one B through a general practitioner or an
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  Speaker 3: art show. That's the only way they can do that
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  Speaker 3: is if they choose to take the astrazenica vaccine. So
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  Speaker 3: that's reduced that group's options right now. National Cabinet, of course,
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  Speaker 3: as your listeners would know, is meeting twice a week,
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  Speaker 3: meeting again tomorrow and a range of discussion points there
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  Speaker 3: to sort of amend some of those rules and arrangements
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  Speaker 3: so that we can make sure everyone who needs it
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  Speaker 3: in Phase one B has access. So right now it's
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  Speaker 3: a little bit difficult, but we're very hopeful that we'll
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  Speaker 3: have a way forward later this for.
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  Speaker 1: Michelle, how is that impacting the role out then in
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  Speaker 1: remote communities?
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  Speaker 3: So for remote communities, we'd already in partnership with Common
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  Speaker 3: webs made some changes to the model, so first off
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  Speaker 3: that if a community wanted it, and people in communities
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  Speaker 3: wanted to be vaccinated, we would do all of that
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  Speaker 3: remote community at one time, so no distinction around which
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  Speaker 3: phase people were in. And that was largely because of
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  Speaker 3: the logistics how many times you have to go in
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  Speaker 3: and out of the community. So that model hasn't changed.
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  Speaker 3: What has changed though, is which vaccines we now take
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  Speaker 3: into community because obviously a lot of our community members,
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  Speaker 3: in fact, a lot of adults in the territory are
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  Speaker 3: under fifty.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, now, are you finding that there is any resistance
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  Speaker 1: in any of those communities to the Astrosenica vaccine.
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  Speaker 3: So right across the territory we're seeing quite a mixed
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  Speaker 3: picture in terms of response. So even before the Attagi advice,
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  Speaker 3: there were a number of people who were hesitant about vaccines.
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  Speaker 3: There were equally a number of people really really keen
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  Speaker 3: to be vaccinated and didn't really want to wait for
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  Speaker 3: their faith. Yea quite extreme, and we're seeing that continue.
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  Speaker 3: So for people who were hesitant before that, hesitancy hasn't
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  Speaker 3: gone away, and in some cases has increase. Right we
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  Speaker 3: are seeing people who would have had the AstraZeneca vaccine
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  Speaker 3: who are just wanting a bit more information about those
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  Speaker 3: risks and understand what that means, and we're encouraging people
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  Speaker 3: to talk to their health professional in that case. But
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  Speaker 3: we're also still seeing a whole bunch of people saying,
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  Speaker 3: I understand, but I'm really really keen to get vaccinated.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a really mixed picture.
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  Speaker 1: Now my understanding is that the astroseneka is obviously a
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  Speaker 1: preferable one to get out to those communities because it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't need to be stored those incredibly low temperatures. I
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  Speaker 1: know that the advice has changed them when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to the fires a vaccine, But is that storage of
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  Speaker 1: the vaccine proving to be a difficulty in terms of
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  Speaker 1: the roll out into communities.
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  Speaker 3: It is an additional challenge. But we're working hard on
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  Speaker 3: a few solutions that we think will assist with that,
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  Speaker 3: one of which is getting more of those ultra low
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  Speaker 3: picture freezes and perhaps putting one into Catherine one into
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  Speaker 3: Go so that we've got little hubs dotted around the
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  Speaker 3: territory more than just in Darwin and Alla Springs as
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  Speaker 3: is currently the case. And then those areas connect as
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  Speaker 3: hubs for the remote communities around them, so it will
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  Speaker 3: reduce the travel time. And so we're doing we're working
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  Speaker 3: through all that detail, but we think that will assist
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  Speaker 3: with movement of the five vaccine around the territory.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and so in those more remote communities or remote
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  Speaker 1: places around the territory. Has that vaccine roll out started
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  Speaker 1: already or not quite yet.
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  Speaker 3: A number of communities have had vaccinations already. In some cases,
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  Speaker 3: particularly for the communities that have their primary care delivered
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  Speaker 3: by an archo service, they're going in, they're talking to
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  Speaker 3: community members and where there are people who are ready
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  Speaker 3: to be vaccinated, they're doing those people as they go.
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  Speaker 3: But that's for let's call it opportunistic rather than a
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  Speaker 3: whole of community approach. When communities are ready, though, we
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  Speaker 3: are doing whole of community approaches, and for example, in
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  Speaker 3: Central Australia at the moment, Yolara and Vudu Julius being
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  Speaker 3: vaccinated and plans are well developed for Groot Island as
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  Speaker 3: exanceles right now.
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  Speaker 1: I know that nationally there has been reports some doctors
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  Speaker 1: are reporting that patients are missing their appointments for the
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  Speaker 1: astrosenica vaccine over safety concerns. It's reported that thousands of
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  Speaker 1: doses are sitting idle in fridges across the country.
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  Speaker 2: Is that the case for us here in the territory, Well.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly this last week we have seen a lot of
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  Speaker 3: people who were scheduled to have astrasenica vaccine who are
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  Speaker 3: under fifty, who have of course canceled their appointments. And
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  Speaker 3: so we have seen and that's occurred nationally. As you'd
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  Speaker 3: well expect, we have seen that that sort of drop
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  Speaker 3: into while both people consider what they want to do,
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  Speaker 3: but also we reconfigure so that people are able to
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  Speaker 3: access the right vaccine. The vaccines have a shelf life,
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  Speaker 3: so that that is okay. Of course, our desire is
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  Speaker 3: to vaccinate as many people as we can, as quickly
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  Speaker 3: as we can, but we also recognize that people have
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  Speaker 3: to be ready for that.
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  Speaker 2: Michelle.
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  Speaker 1: How many cancelations are we talking? Is it sort of
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  Speaker 1: in the tens, in the hundreds.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I couldn't give you an exact number, Katie, but
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  Speaker 3: it's very fair to say that in that because we
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  Speaker 3: obviously booked, you know, a few days or a week ahead,
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  Speaker 3: and so people who are under fifty, an awful lot
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  Speaker 3: of that group who have scheduled. How that studeni kid
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  Speaker 3: did cancel their booking, which is completely understandable because the
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  Speaker 3: advice was that a different vaccine was preferred to that group. Yeah, right,
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  Speaker 3: so we did have that, We've seen that nationally, and
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  Speaker 3: I think that's completely understandable. What we need to anyway,
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  Speaker 3: as national Cabinet meets tomorrow and hopefully we'll have some
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  Speaker 3: clarity of direction. After that, we'll be able to provide
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  Speaker 3: more information to people about where that can access their
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  Speaker 3: vaccine based on which payse they're in.
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  Speaker 1: Michelle, are we going to be setting up mas mass
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  Speaker 1: vaccination hubs here in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: I think when we think about mass vaccination where we're
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  Speaker 3: sort of thinking of, you know, major metropolitan cities with
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  Speaker 3: large populations, many of whom struggle to access a general practitioner.
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  Speaker 3: So we've probably seen the pictures of homebullsh and Sydney,
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  Speaker 3: you know, three or four stories full of vaccinations. We
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  Speaker 3: won't be doing anything part like that, but what we
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  Speaker 3: do need to do is open up access to people.
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  Speaker 3: As we get more supplies, so we will provide more
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  Speaker 3: there will be more opportunities and points where pell are
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  Speaker 3: able to access vaccine. I'm not sure this will meet
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  Speaker 3: what we might think of as a mass vaccination center
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  Speaker 3: that's doing three thousand doses a day. We don't have
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  Speaker 3: that type of population either.
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  Speaker 1: And Michelle, I guess that maybe goes back to as well,
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  Speaker 1: what you're talking about before, with some of those other
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  Speaker 1: hubs set up in the likes of Catherine Gove, Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we're vaccinating in those communities now anyway, Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: of course, but what we're thinking of is actually using
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  Speaker 3: those as sort of hub storage sites so that the
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  Speaker 3: primary care services can use those freezers as their store.
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  Speaker 3: That's not dissimilar to the way we manage normal vaccine
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  Speaker 3: roll out across the territory. Of course, the difference here
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  Speaker 3: is the temperature requirements for FIVER, but the logistic process
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  Speaker 3: of how you get it around the territory is not
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  Speaker 3: usually dissimilar to that.
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  Speaker 1: Michelle, can I ask when do you anticipate all territorians
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  Speaker 1: are going to be vaccinated by.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a really hard question. We're getting better
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  Speaker 3: visability about supply coming in and I think people will
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  Speaker 3: have heard the Prime Minister to talk about a large
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  Speaker 3: volume of size are particularly coming in in the last
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  Speaker 3: part of this year, and other vaccines that the GGA
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  Speaker 3: is considering, So it is a bit hard to say
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  Speaker 3: that exactly. What we do know is we want to
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  Speaker 3: keep vaccinating people. We want to vaccinate people as quickly
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  Speaker 3: as we can, and of course in the tertiary we've
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  Speaker 3: got the added complication that we need to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that those communities affected by the web season they're done
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  Speaker 3: before we get.
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  Speaker 1: To websites, Michelle, can I just ask finally this morning,
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  Speaker 1: because we've got quite a few people messaging through. I
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  Speaker 1: know that there are still a lot of Territorians who
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  Speaker 1: are feeling sort of a little bit concerned due to
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  Speaker 1: that change of advice with the vaccine rollout. What would
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  Speaker 1: you say to any Territorian who is concerned or is
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  Speaker 1: feeling a bit worried about getting the vaccine.
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  Speaker 3: I think the number one see for people to remember
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  Speaker 3: is that regardless of the particular advice about it Astra Zeneka,
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  Speaker 3: the overwhelming advice from a TARGI is the best thing
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  Speaker 3: you can do is get vaccinated. We are so fortunate
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  Speaker 3: in Australia and in the territory that we've seen very
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  Speaker 3: little community transmission. Very few Australians know anyone who's died.
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  Speaker 3: That's a different case, of course to other parts of
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  Speaker 3: the world, so we sort of we're so fortunate, but
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  Speaker 3: equally we don't see the impact of the disease. We've
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  Speaker 3: had about thirty thousand cases of COVID in Australia and
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  Speaker 3: nearly a thousand people have died, so that's you know,
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  Speaker 3: one in thirty in round figures. So I think that
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  Speaker 3: bit isn't as visible to us when we're weighing up
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  Speaker 3: whether we should get vaccinated or not. Maybe getting vaccinated
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  Speaker 3: when it's my plan. I'm very pleased that my elderly
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  Speaker 3: mother has already had her first job and and I'd
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  Speaker 3: encourage everyone to think of it that way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be doing the same.
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Health Deputy Chief Executive Michelle McKay. We really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much for chatting
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  Speaker 1: with us. Thank you you're listening to mix one oh
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  Speaker 1: four point nine is three sixty. Love to hear from
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  Speaker 1: you today if you'd like to call through eight nine
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