BEN FORDHAM:
The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Ben. Nice to be with you and your listeners.
BEN FORDHAM:
Can we acknowledge that first up? I mean, we respect the fact that we've got businesses sitting down with you today to work out how they can help, but can someone in Canberra acknowledge that this has been a shambles?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I certainly acknowledge it's been very challenging. There have been some things we can control and other things we can't. As you know, we've received the ATAGI advice about who the AstraZeneca vaccine can be rolled out to.
That's not just Australia that's faced that challenge, but also other countries. But if you look at our overall economic and health response, Ben, you wouldn't want to be in any other country. I mean, people look at Wimbledon and look at the full houses that they've got at Wimbledon, but they've had over 120,000 deaths. I mean, we've had 910 deaths here in Australia. That's tragic. But if we'd seen the loss of life that we've seen across the OECD, more than 30,000 Australians would have lost their lives.
BEN FORDHAM:
We also know that a lot of Australians have lost their lives because of the lockdowns. And now in Sydney, we're about to learn today that our lockdown is being extended. And we were also told early on that getting the jab was our passport to freedom.
But if you have a look at the numbers around the world, at those who are fully vaccinated. Israel almost 60 per cent, Hungary 52 per cent, Lithuania 40 per cent, Greece 38 per cent, Portugal 37 per cent, Austria 37 per cent, Poland 37 per cent , Canada 36 per cent, Slovenia 33 per cent, Italy 33 per cent, Latvia 30 per cent. Australia - way way way down last in the OECD under 10 per cent fully vaccinated.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes, in terms of the fully vaccinated, that is true. But if you look at those who have received the first jab, it's more than 30 per cent of the eligible population for the vulnerable cohorts, the more than the over 50 years of age, more than 50 per cent have received the jab.
And for the over 70's, another vulnerable cohort, more than 70 per cent have received the jab. Now we're getting more supply of that mRNA vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine online. Right now we're getting 300,000 a week. That gets up to around 600,000 to 700,000 by late July and in August and then to 2 million a week by October.
And that's why the partnership with the business community today is so important because they've had the experience in delivering the flu vaccine to their workers. We'll have more than 30 CEOs and industry leaders around the table today, representing more than seven and a half million Australian workers. You'll have the CEOs of the Commonwealth Bank and of Coles and Telstra and Wesfarmers. And that will be very important.
BEN FORDHAM:
We've had these businesses for so long saying we'd like to get involved. We had GP saying we want to get involved before they were allowed to come on board. We had pharmacies saying, please give us a role before they were given the green light. Why is it that the Federal Government has been dragged kicking and screaming to the party?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
In terms of working with the business community, it is a function of supply. And as more supply comes on, they can play a greater role. With respect to the pharmacists, we started with the GPs. We established 5,000 contact points around the country to distribute the vaccine. And now we're moving and working closely with the pharmacy sector.
So we've already seen more than 8.3 million jabs being delivered. More jabs are being delivered each and every day. But I don't want you to gloss over the fact that in both the economic and the health response, Australia has been able to suppress the virus far better than other countries. Now there's more work to be done, and we will get there. But what you've seen in New South Wales, is a function of the more dangerous Delta variant. But if anyone and any Premier is going to get on top of it, it's going to be Gladys Berejiklian.
BEN FORDHAM:
Well, you can accuse me of glossing over the health and economic consequences, but you're glossing over the vaccine rollout. You say it's been a challenge. It has been chaotic, Josh.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah, it's been challenging, and it's been difficult…
BEN FORDHAM:
It's been chaotic.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And we know we're going to roll it out as quickly as possible as more supply comes online. And that's why today's meeting with General Frewen, the chief medical officer, and myself and those 33 business leaders will be really important.
BEN FORDHAM:
All right, we wish you luck at that meeting today. Thanks very much for joining us.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the best and best of luck with the Ninja Warrior too.
BEN FORDHAM:
Good on you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My daughter was up late last night watching you.
BEN FORDHAM:
Thank you very much, the Treasurer joining us from Parliament House, Canberra.