Page 1587 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 June 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
doses. Doing the maths on that, there are about 75,000 people who have received either one or two doses. About 20,000 people have received both doses, so about five per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated.
Having said that, we need to put a caveat on it in terms of population, because the ACT is a centre for vaccinating people from around regional New South Wales as well, so it is probably not a hundred per cent accurate to compare that 20,000 people to the population of the ACT. But those are the rough numbers, and I can get the exact figures.
Health—COVID-19 vaccination rollout
MRS JONES: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, like other states the booking system for state-managed COVID vaccine clinics requires people to provide their Medicare number. However, in the ACT if the number does not match the ACT government’s data, then the person cannot book their vaccine online and is forced to wait on the phone in a queue, sometimes for hours. In other states the Medicare numbers which are collected do not have to match state data in order to book appointments via their websites. How many Canberrans, trying to do the right thing and get their vaccine, are forced to endure a telephone queue after being rejected by the website booking system?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I know there was some glitch with the call back system on one or two days but the actual answer to Mrs Jones’s question is none, because there is a call back service. So if you call the phone number—
Mrs Jones: On a point of order, I am not sure the minister completely understood the question.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: You said, “How many people had to wait?”
Mrs Jones: I am not being funny here. I am actually trying to explain the question.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I listened to the question, but go for it.
MADAM SPEAKER: Why don’t you repeat the question?
Mrs Jones: Like other states, the booking system for state-managed COVID requires people to provide their Medicare number—
A member interjecting—
Mrs Jones: In other states the Medicare numbers do not have to match the state data in order to book appointments. How many Canberrans, trying to do the right thing and get their vaccine via the website, are forced to go onto the telephone queue, essentially?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I have already answered Mrs Jones’s actual question. I am happy to talk about what we are doing in terms of the Medicare number entry. If
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video