Prime Minister
SAMANTHA MAIDEN: Well, good evening and welcome to news.com.au live tonight. This is part of our ‘Our Best Shot’ campaign, which is designed to answer all of your questions that you may have thought of and some hopefully you maybe even haven’t thought about the Covid vaccine and to get to the bottom of those questions, without mucking around, going straight to the top. We're very pleased tonight to be joined by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Welcome.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day Sam, thanks for doing this. I think this is a great opportunity for Professor Murphy and I just to talk directly to people about what the vaccine means. I'm sure there's plenty of questions, very important for the whole country. So thanks for the opportunity. Look forward to answering those questions.
MAIDEN: That's great. And Professor Brendan Murphy, who many of you would have seen on your screen throughout the year, talking about Covid, first of all in his capacity as the chief medical officer and now he's running the health department, of course. Welcome to you as well, Professor Murphy.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: Thanks, Sam, good evening.
MAIDEN: OK, so let's start at the beginning with the basics. What can this vaccine do and what can't it do? Prime Minister, can you tell us how will our lives change when this vaccine rollout is complete and throughout the year?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Brendan will add to what I have to say, but I think we've got to be careful to understand that not everything changes the minute the vaccine starts. There are many things we still have to learn about this vaccine. One of the key things is whether it actually prevents the virus transmitting from one person to another. Now, that doesn't mean it doesn't. It just means at this stage, it's not clear that it does that job. What it certainly does is that it protects people from very severe disease. And so it protects us from those awful circumstances of large numbers of deaths and people finding themselves in those acute situations and requiring very serious medical care. And not just for all the older people, too. That means for younger people as well. So the vaccine will start slow, we anticipate, and Brendan heads up the expert group that is advising us on all the purchases and the administering the vaccines we anticipate this month. And it will start with those priority populations of our most vulnerable people, people in aged care, those working in our health care, frontline worker systems, in quarantines, in hotels and other places where we're doing that and then it builds up over time. And so by October, we anticipate that we would have worked right through the population. If it indeed does stop transmission between people, then that could be quite a game changer. But that will not be evident for some time yet. But, Brendan, you can probably add to that, I think, at a medical level.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: Thanks, Prime Minister. So I think, as the Prime Minister said, what we do know about these vaccines, the two that we're getting and rolling out initially and the third one which we'll get later in the year, is that they stop clinically severe Covid disease. So the important thing is our aim initially is to protect the population, particularly those vulnerable people, from getting clinical Covid disease. As the Prime Minister said, we think that they will. It's in all likelihood they will have a significant effect on transmission and we're seeing some early evidence of that coming from the UK. If that's the case, then they should allow progressively over the second half of this year, some relaxation of - the health advice will change - some relaxation of border measures and other measures. But we just have to wait and see. Target one is to protect the population and that's such an important target. None of us want to see, we're so lucky in Australia, we haven't seen those terrible scenes that we've seen from overseas. And then we will evaluate the data. There's new and better data coming out of all of these vaccines as they're being rolled out and we're going to be updating our clinical advice to government the whole way through.
MAIDEN: OK, so for some people that's going to be a tough sell, this idea that the vaccine will protect you but we need to have more information about whether you can still transmit. And that obviously has impacts in terms of hotel quarantine. And we're already getting a number of questions through on that. One of the questions that we had from one of our readers was being allowed to travel was the primary reason for me to get vaccinated. So if that's not clear that the board is going to lift right away, why should I bother now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’d be two reasons. First of all, building up that vaccine amongst the population over time builds up the herd immunity for everybody. So it protects everybody. But I make the same point. Everyone's at risk of quite severe disease on this, potentially. We've had very young people affected by this. We've had obviously more of those in the elderly population experience the fatal impacts of this. But that is not limited to those we and we're seeing with more virulent strains as well and Professor Murphy will say more about that. I mean, it's in everybody's interest together over time to build up the vaccination right across the country, and that's true all the way around the world. Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: Yeah. So if, as we suspect, these vaccines are effective at preventing transmission, the sooner we get the population vaccinated, the sooner people stand up. Not only will they be protected, but then we will get on this path towards good herd immunity and that will speed up the return to international travel. So it's in everybody's interest to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, both initially to protect themselves and protect their family, but also to get that journey towards herd immunity, which we think we will get eventually. It's just that we don't know when and how quickly, but the sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner we will get there.
PRIME MINISTER: Just on that, just to pick up another point, the policy approach, say when Premiers are looking around about how they have restrictions and so on, one of the things we've always been concerned about is that if the virus takes hold and it were to move rapidly, then the worst case outcome of that is seeing what we've seen in the UK. Now, a thousand people dying a day is what we've seen in the UK. That's more than has happened in the whole year in Australia. But if we have greater confidence that the impact of any potential breakout will not lead to that because we know people are vaccinated, then that gives us a greater confidence about the risks that exist when breakouts inevitably occur.
MAIDEN: OK. This idea of herd immunity, this has come up a lot in the debate about AstraZeneca, and some of our readers have been asking us and one of the questions they asked is can I choose one vaccine over the other? Because there's been this debate that has started about the Pfizer vaccine versus the AstraZeneca. Why don't we have Moderna now? If AstraZeneca can only deliver an efficacy rate of 70 percent or 75 percent, is that really going to get us to herd immunity? And what are the implications of that in terms of how many goes we would have to get that vaccine to actually build that immunity?
PRIME MINISTER: Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: So all we know at the moment, Sam, is that both Pfizer and AstraZeneca are effective at preventing disease. We don't know how effective either of them is at preventing transmission. It could be that AstraZeneca is more effective. We just don't know. And the data on AstraZeneca is still evolving. There's still any early data on both vaccines. My strong view is that both vaccines are very good at preventing disease and both vaccines are probably close to equally good. And we'll get more data on these vaccines over time. The AstraZeneca vaccine still has perhaps less data than the Pfizer vaccine, particularly for some age groups, and we're getting more and more data as more and more trials come. So we will generally be rolling out vaccines. Most of the population, including me, I'll be getting an AstraZeneca vaccine and be lining up for it with great enthusiasm.
PRIME MINISTER: I want to mention across many different vaccines that are done in many different areas. I mean, the sorts of effectiveness figures that we're seeing on this one are quite common, actually, for vaccines on a whole range of different conditions where we readily go and get these vaccines, whether it's for our kids or ourselves at any other time.
MAIDEN: Yeah, I mean, the point has been made to me that the COVID vaccines, whatever one you want to look at, they're far more effective than the flu vaccine. We happily get the flu vaccine. It doesn't have the efficacy that these COVID vaccines are looking at. But you've ticked off on Pfizer. AstraZeneca is imminent. I know there's an important meeting on Friday. Can you just take us through, Professor Murphy, how far off are we of ticking off AstraZeneca? We've had more countries in Europe restrict it for over 65’s. Do you think we will? And what's the Plan B for all the over 65’s in Australia if AstraZeneca is not a goer?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: So I think we have to wait for the TGA to do their evaluation. The European Medicines Agency and the UK have registered it for over 65's. The TGA and the advisory committee on vaccine had a meeting today and they'll be seeking more information from AstraZeneca. We think the TGA will make its approval of AstraZeneca in the coming weeks. We don't rush the regulatory authority. They go through their independent, absolutely rigid process. Government and I don't don't try and influence that at all. But by the end of this month and hopefully sooner than that, within a couple of weeks, we hope we'll get a registration decision on AstraZeneca.
MAIDEN: OK, a quick question here. Marcus Dunn wants to know if someone gets the Pfizer vaccine, can they get a booster with AstraZeneca. They need to stick with Pfizer, don't they?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: All the evidence would suggest that you're better off having, you need the same vaccine for the second dose to give you the best immune protection. It would be silly to mix and match. That doesn't mean that if you might have a two dose course of one of those vaccines and if it turns out that in a year or two we still need boosters, then you could have another one. But at the moment, with the primary course, it is two doses of the same vaccine. And we are planning our roll out to make sure everyone has access to two doses of the same vaccine.
MAIDEN: Are you getting the AstraZeneca vaccine or are you getting the Pfizer vaccine? When is this going to be televised? And one of our readers wanted to know whether you’re going to make Criag Kelly get it?
PRIME MINISTER: You’re for that a little too enthusiastically. No, I'll look, I'll be taking the advice of Professor Murphy and Professor Kelly. And at this stage, I would say that would be the Pfizer vaccine and heading down here to Canberra Hospital, I'd be assuming, to take it there. And I think that's very important that we show, that I personally show, that this is something that we should do and this is something I've always been in favour of. Australia has very high vaccination rates. But the point you're making about the double dose, I was just going to say on that, Sam, our rollout programme is being done to ensure that you go to the same place, because that's the best way with how we register and all the rest of it, you can be sure that you get the two doses and that we're covering that on both ends, both from your end and from the clinician who's involved in actually administering the vaccine. So we're encouraging the system to give both doses and people to go back to the same place.
MAIDEN: Yeah. And will you be taking along Craig Kelly to get the vaccine with you when you go to the hospital or do it by yourself?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think it's important he waits his turn along with everybody else. I mean, personally, I'm doing it to demonstrate as Prime Minister as many other leaders have around the world. And I'll be happy to do that and I think that's important.
MAIDEN: All right. This issue around public trust in vaccines has obviously really blown up today with the Craig Kelly issue. He's had a bit of a confrontation in the hallway with Tanya Plibersek. That's what happens, I suppose, in politics sometimes. Let's have a look at how it played out on the video.
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MAIDEN: So let's ask the Prime Minister. You've had one conversation with him yesterday, then you've apparently hauled him into the office that you are sitting in this morning. What is it about what Craig Kelly's been saying about vaccines that you don't agree with?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's actually the issues that he's been raising have been about treatments, actually, with Hydroxychloroquine and there's been many posts that he's done that have reference to other issues. There's been comments about state chief health officers and a range of. I mean, Craig has had a bit to say about a whole range of issues. My simple point is this. The person that I take my advice from in terms of what's appropriate for Australia, well, one of them is sitting on this call right now, Professor Murphy, and Professor Kelly is the Kelly that I listen to when it comes to what we should be doing with our vaccines and with our broader medical expert advice and that's what I expect of all of my government members. And the reason for this is important. Look, I think this issue has been exacerbated. It's been an issue of great sort of public interest and there's been a lot of drama and theatre around it, which I know that is something that obviously catches people’s attention. But if you want to know what you should be doing about the vaccine, listen to the guy who's on this call right now. Professor Murphy.
MAIDEN: Professor Murphy, not Kelly, you’ve got Kelly on the brain.
PRIME MINISTER: No, Sam, Professor Murphy runs the expert advisory group on vaccines. Professor Kelly is the Chief Medical Officer. Professor Kelly is the deputy chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Vaccines. So they are the two that are principally responsible for advising me and frankly, the entire government, as well as the National Cabinet when it comes to these issues. That's who I listen to and that’s who Australians should listen to.
MAIDEN: Can we just deal with this so we can dispose of the issue? Why did it take you two calls? You had a conversation with him yesterday and then you've had to haul him in this morning. Was it just watching that on television, that interaction that made you decide that it had gotten too big? And why didn't you have that conversation with him weeks ago or months ago?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, the issue escalated over the last 24 hours. I mean, there's lots of information out there on Facebook and frankly, I wouldn't be paying attention to most of it if not other than that's been provided by official government sources. And I didn't see any reason to draw attention to these things. But the matter had been escalated in the media and it was important that I addressed it as firmly as I did today. So the matter is done.
MAIDEN: Fair enough. OK, so will he be taking down those posts from Facebook?
PRIME MINISTER: He's taking the actions that he needs to take and he's not having anything further to say on those issues, as I understand it, and that's I think that's helpful.
MAIDEN: OK, so getting back to our reader questions then, and this goes to the issue of public trust in vaccines. A lot of people asking us what are the side effects, what's normal? What can we expect? Professor Murphy, should we plan a day off if we're having the vaccine? Or is it more likely that you have side effects with the second dose? What can people expect?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: Well, all the data we've got so far is that side effects for both of these vaccines and the other vaccines that have been trialled are relatively mild. There have been a very, very small number of people who've had the Pfizer vaccine who've had a more severe reaction, what they call an anaphylactic reaction, which is why we're planning the initial doses in situations where there's medical supervision. But the vast majority of people tolerate the vaccine very well. They might have sort of some minor symptoms, a little bit of local symptoms from the site of injection or occasionally a little bit of a headache or some general symptoms. But I certainly when I have the vaccine, I won't be planning to take a day off, like I don't when I have a flu vaccine or any other vaccine. I think that for most people it'll be well tolerated, but some might have some short-lived side effects, which won't be too bad.
MAIDEN: OK, of our friends on Facebook Tom Lee wanted to know, though, what about people with allergies? Because there are people that have EpiPens or anaphylactic reactions that maybe shouldn't take the vaccine or should maybe be careful. What's your advice there?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: Yeah, I think if people have a severe allergy syndrome where they have had anaphylaxis, probably they should make, particularly if they're getting the Pfizer vaccine, make people aware that they have a propensity to allergy because we have seen a little bit of allergic reactions. But in the main, the components of these vaccines are unlikely to promote a severe allergic reaction. But as I said, there have been a small number of cases with the Pfizer vaccine.
MAIDEN: Yeah. And we also had that research from Norway and that early on was suggesting that there was a bit of concern with older people with AstraZeneca. Then they came out and said, look, there's not necessarily any link between the vaccine and the deaths. These people were older and, in fact, infirm and so on. But it has triggered a big debate about your vaccine strategy. Now, I've seen a lot of people, there's a huge emerging industry and armchair epidemiology of people who think that basically you should be able to just go out and say, hey, I'd like to buy 25 million of Pfizer to vaccinate everybody and I'll have the same amount of Moderna and the same amount of AstraZeneca so we can get all the vaccines that we can. The way it is being described by some economists is ‘option’ all of these vaccines. Now, can you go out and get 25 million Pfizer vaccines tomorrow if you wanted to?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY: Sorry, Prime Minister, I was going to say that our vaccine purchases have been advised by this expert technical advisory group that the Prime Minister mentioned before and we have carefully considered a range of factors. The vaccines that are most likely to be effective, having a strategic stake in all the types of vaccines. And particularly important has been the capacity for onshore production, which we've got with AstraZeneca vaccine. You've seen already international supply chain issues will be important. We will have guaranteed rapid rollout of AstraZeneca when it comes off the CSL production line in March and that is a really powerful position that many countries are not in. That expert advisory committee continues to meet regularly. We continue to look at our vaccine profile. We have access to the COVAX facility that is an international buyers club where there are many vaccines that we can get more of, including mRNA vaccines. We are continuing to evaluate the best vaccine supply for our country and we think we've got a good strategy. We're rolling out two really good vaccines initially and we will continue to review.
PRIME MINISTER: So we’ve spread our risk, Sam. That's the point. And we've taken the expert advice about where you're placing our orders and initially, it was many months ago. I mean, the idea that pretty much almost all of them, with the exception of the one that we were trying to develop up at the University of Queensland have been proving to to be coming off. Now, that was not a strike rate, that we had anticipated at the outset. So it's exceeding our expectations in terms of the ones that have been proving effective. But I think one of the key decisions we took was to enable ourselves to be able to produce AstraZeneca here in Australia. I mean, I meet with leaders all the time and they are very envious of our production capability here in Australia. I mean New Zealand won’t be starting their vaccination programme until, April and they don't have that capability as many other countries don't. I've met with all the Pacific leaders today, and we're supporting their vaccinations, working first with the COVAX facility, which we've made a big investment in there to support them as well. But on top of that, we've just announced today an $200 million dollars to support how we will be vaccinating in places and assisting that in places like Fiji and the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and so on. So we're taking a responsibility here within our region, which I know Australians feel similarly about. I mean, that's our family. That's our responsibility to help out here in our region as well.
MAIDEN: Now, I wanted to ask you about that, because there’s good reasons to be selfish, if you like, about the vaccine, because it does protect you. And you've talked about the fact that we don't know fully yet about transmission. But there is this emerging debate amongst doctors and scientists about this idea that we run the risk if we don't vaccinate the world of new and mutant strains emerging, that we'll end up with a situation where, sure, Australia's vaccinated or the US is vaccinated or the UK is vaccinated. But some country in the world where it's not vaccinated, you're going to have a mass outbreak. You're going to have new mutant versions emerging as they have in the UK and South Africa. And then we're going to be back to square one with a never ending pandemic and a vaccine that doesn't work. How possible is that scenario Dr Murphy, Professor Murphy?
PROFESSOR MURPHY: Do you want to go Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I might because I've been, that’s I’ve been talking to President Macron about and Boris and a range of others. I mean, we're all focussing on our sort of areas of responsibility, if you like, as advanced economies and countries. And for us, that's the Pacific and South East Asia. And so whether that's giving some support to places like Indonesia and so on, we are doing that. And that process has already begun. And as I've already said, what we're doing across the Pacific. This is important I mean, we have got 140 million doses that we've provided for here in Australia, and that's enough to vaccinate Australia several times over. So we will have the direct capability to support both with the vaccines and the technical know-how and support to deliver those in the Pacific, as well as doing that similarly within South East Asia. Now in Pacific, for example, we're doing that at the same time with the French in French Polynesia and the United States when it comes to the Micronesian states and those further to the north, that's already begun, places like Palau and places like that. So the large countries are doing their bit. But I said today, and this was very important to the Pacific leaders, we're not going to have vaccines dumped in developing countries. The vaccine that the people get in Fiji or Papua New Guinea has to have the same safety as the one taken in Australia. So it is important that we do that, that we ensure its quality, its safety and its delivery. And same for developing countries, as developed countries.
MAIDEN: Don't worry that bell you can hear ringing is the Senate, not the House of Reps so you’re great. I want to move through some questions pretty rapidly now before we run out of time. First of all, I don't know how honest you'll be, but try and do it quickly if you can, Prime Minister, how hard did you have to push to get CSL to manufacture these vaccines? Did you consider that you might have to slap them with some sort of order because everyone's happy families now, but they weren't necessarily thrilled to do it in the beginning were they?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Brendan and I and Greg Hunt, are very charming, charismatic, persuasive people, Sam, as you know, and you know there has been a national interest in all of that and whether it was producing masks early on or getting access to reagents for testing and the work that Twiggy Forrest did there and others, you know, there's been a call to arms for Australians here and CSL understood that. I mean, they’re a commercial venture as well. So, you know, those things have to be respected. But I'm very grateful to what we've been able to achieve with them, not just for this vaccine, because we're now sort of invested in their production capabilities across a much broader range of vaccines. So through this pandemic, we're taking the opportunity to build our medical supply chain, sovereign capability more broadly, not just for vaccines. But Brendan can be persuasive when I need him to be.
MAIDEN: Maybe you can tell me the full story, some other time because I’m not sure we got it tonight, but just we've only got about five or six minutes left, so we’ll just move through these relatively quickly. Samantha [inaudible] wanted to know, will workplaces be allowed to make this mandatory, i.e., no jab, no job?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, I mean, the vaccine is not mandatory from a public health point of view. The medical expert panel, which Professor Kelly chairs, has already considered whether for aged care workers, for example, that would be a requirement of someone working in one of those facilities. And they haven't concluded that that would be at this point. Remember, a flu vaccine is and so- or measles vaccinations is a requirement to work in an ICU or something like that or emergency centre. So this is not uncommon, but it's all about what the role is and whether there's an overwhelming health requirement for that to happen. And if that is the case, public health orders would be put in place by state governments consistently across the country to give the legal basis for that to occur where there is a need. Now beyond that, as it goes through the other workplace as well, that is not something that has come up at this point. And frankly, it would be many, many, many months before we're in the balance of population vaccine inoculation where those issues might arise. But the legal position on that is an employer just simply to carte blanche require it of an employee, there would need to be a strong reason for that. And that's why public health orders would be used to ensure that there was complete certainty about what the requirement was, and the legal basis for it.
MAIDEN: OK, presumably you could put it in a work contract though, so what about this case in Melbourne-
PROFESSOR MURPHY: Not necessarily.
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, not necessarily.
MAIDEN: Not necessarily?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not necessarily not- but you would- it would have to be backed up, say, on a health ground by a public health order. And that's why the states would take that action in concert and would do that through the National Cabinet on the advice of the medical expert panel.
MAIDEN: OK, PM, were you alarmed by that story today out of Melbourne of this idea that essentially COVID has been floating across the hallway? This is a hotel quarantine situation where you had a family of five and this suggestion in Victoria that there was so much COVID that it was flooding across the hallway. Now, that's not necessarily something that we've thought of before. Does this tell you something that we didn't know about COVID before? Is it a bit of a worry? What do you think?
PRIME MINISTER: It tells me that there's a lot of speculation about these issues and I’d just say where theres amateur epidemiologists there is also amateur commentary on a whole range of things. I don't speculate about this sort of stuff. I ask the other bloke who is sitting on this call, and Professor Kelly. So I think it's best for him to give a medical view about that rather than, you know my opinion, is frankly not that relevant to something like that. Only the medical opinion is relevant.
PROFESSOR MURPHY: So I think I think there's been a lot of speculation about this sort of idea of aerosol transmission over distances. Often when it's suspected, we often find that there was contact between people, like I think the Western Australian case there was speculation it might have been through air handling. And it turns out that the guard apparently did take some food to the door of a person. So I think this is speculation on the basis of what the Victorians have. And I think they're all they're doing is suggesting that they haven't yet found any evidence of contact between the two groups of people. And that's a suggestion, I think we need to wait for them to complete their investigation. Most COVID is transmitted by fairly close contact.
MAIDEN: OK, now to wrap it up, I'm going to ask you to give a prediction. Prime Minister. Everyone still wants to know whether they'll ever get to go overseas again, sometimes for fun, but often to see their to family as well, what's your best advice, your best guess right now about how long it will take before the international borders are reopened?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I can't, I can't tell you. I can't give you an estimate on all that. I think what's really important through this pandemic Sam is that I and Brendan and Paul and Greg have been very upfront with people about what we do know and what we don't know. We make decisions based on what we do know. And at this point, at this point, we can't give any timetable on that and it would be unwise to do so. The key thing that I think is going to impact on that decision is going to be whether the evidence emerges about transmissibility and how the vaccine protects against that. And until we know something about that, I'm not going to lead people on. But, Brendan?
PROFESSOR MURPHY: Yes, I absolutely agree with the Prime Minister. I think it would be if we have really good efficacy in the vaccine, we could start to see some recommendations about restrictions lessening progressively over the second half of this year. But beyond that, I wouldn't want to make a prediction either.
MAIDEN: OK, and just one last question that doesn't involve COVID Prime Minister, I know you've been involved in the Mito foundation and this is an issue that's going to coming to the fore, this idea of using IVF treatment to help women that carry the gene for some of those diseases to have babies that are born healthy and happy. Is that something that you think you're going to be supporting? There’ll obviously be a conscience vote on it by the sound of it. What's your view on that issue?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I am very supportive of this. I have seen just the awful outcomes of what mitochondrial disease does to people. Young Kara Crawley, she lived in my electorate, her mother, also has mito and is in their family. And it is just the most heartbreaking of conditions to see people basically just degenerate before your very eyes. Kara was a young, beautiful, beautiful soul. And we lost her and we lost so many people and where we can, doing all things as ethically right as we possibly can. I would hate to see that suffering and I hate to see it in others. So, you know, we're going through a very exhaustive consultative process here. There will be a free vote on this, and it's for each member to ultimately make up their mind. But I do hope we can go forward here where the science allows us to do this. And as you know, I'm a person who has strong religious beliefs as well but it presents no difficulty for me on this issue. And I think the compassionate thing to do here is to find a way where if we can avoid that horrific, horrific suffering then I believe we should.
MAIDEN: Yes. And hopefully that's what we can do with the vaccine rollout as well. So, Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time today. And thank you very much, Professor Murphy. And good luck with the vaccine rollout. Hopefully, we'll hear more about what happens with AstraZeneca vaccine in the next couple of days. But thank you for your time tonight. And I hope we've answered some of your questions and hopefully we can do it all again at some point in the future.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Sam. Thanks Brendan.
PROFESSOR MURPHY: Thanks.
MAIDEN: Thank you. And good night. And if you have any more questions for us, get them through to News.com.au as part of our best shot campaign, we will be putting more stories up, answering your questions so if there is an issue we haven't covered. Get onto it. And don't forget, as the Prime Minister is holding up the material there get onto the health.gov.au website for all of the information on the COVID vaccine rollout as well. Thanks, guys.