TANYA PLIBERSEK MP 
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY

 
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH ALAN JONES
THURSDAY, 22 JULY 2021 

SUBJECTS: Health advice; vaccine roll out.

ALAN JONES, HOST: Well let's join two of the political best, at a time when too many Australians believe on the political front, we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells - never caught out, always does her homework. But needless to say the Liberal Party of today are wanting to move her on from the Senate, it defies belief. And Tanya Plibersek something now of a political enigma. Even Liberals are saying if she were leading Labor, Labor would win the next federal election. Which I suppose puts some heat on the Labor Party. But the polls are looking grim for the Coalition because the electorate won't stomach promising and not delivering. Talking in clichés won't work. Well, here we go tonight ladies, thank you for your time. Can I just address this absolute mess in New South Wales. Concetta after 18 months of being told in those boringly repetitive way - I raised this with Tony Burke - 'we must take the health advice'. What could the Prime Minister have possibly meant yesterday when he intervened and pleaded with the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to change their AstraZeneca advice, Concetta?  
 
CONCETTA FIERRAVANTI-WELLS, SENATOR FOR NSW: Look ATAGI provides advice to government Alan, and it's up to the government to make the relevant decisions. Now, medical experts do play a role but ultimately the decision rests with the sovereign elected government of the day. So it's up to us then to make those decisions. 
 
JONES: Well Tanya, the Prime Minister said his government was making a constant appeal to the vaccine panel to reconsider the balance of risk. Is the Prime Minister trying to alter the advice and influence the science?
 
TANYA PLIBERSEK, SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN: I think it's completely wrong Alan for politicians to get involved in trying to lobby our scientific experts and our medical experts to change the advice that they have come to after a lot of consideration and a lot of research. It's only the Prime Minister really trying to cover up the fact that he's stuffed up the vaccine roll out and that he hasn't got enough of the Pfizer vaccine, which is the one that people are more keen to get at this stage. 
 
JONES: Concetta, is this being hoisted on your own petard? I mean, have you ever seen any of this advice? They rabbit on about the health advice, we've never seen it. So what advice is the Prime Minister trying to alter? 
 
FIERRAVANTI-WELLS: Well, Alan, we know that if you go to ATAGI's website, it contains statements about COVID: weekly updates, meeting results and all of that sort of thing. But ultimately Alan, as I said, it's up to government to make those decisions and we as politicians should not be compromising our position and contracting out these important decisions to unelected medical experts. 
 
JONES: Look, I agree with that, I've said that from day one. Except that we have been told over and over and over again, 'we are taking the health advice'. Berejiklian says it, he says that. I mean Tanya Plibersek, is this, he says, about the risks? I mean should we, the electorate, be told what the vaccine risks are, if there are any? We've not heard a word from government about that. 
 
PLIBERSEK: I think it is important to be as frank as possible in going through the benefits and any risks that go along with vaccinations. But I can tell you Alan, I've had my first dose of AstraZeneca, I'm going to line up in a couple of weeks' time to have my second dose and I am under the age of 60. So I was in that group that was vaccinated when the advice was that it was appropriate for people over the age of 50 to have AstraZeneca. And I know that there is an infinitesimal risk. I'm prepared to take that risk myself, because I want to look after my family, my mother, my mother-in-law, the older people in my life, the community that I'm a part of. So I'll be there with my sleeve rolled up.  
 
JONES: Right, well, see Concetta, my point is though can you understand this vaccine hesitancy derives a lot from the confused messages. If we were told that people under 60 shouldn't use AstraZeneca - that was the advice or talk to your doctor now - then you may be able to use AstraZeneca. That'll push up the vaccination rates, which might help the Prime Minister's political fortunes. Concetta, it's a bad time to be seeking to alter the health advice, giving it to the under 60s when the two deaths reported today of 44 and 48 from Thrombocytopenia Syndrome. Is this going to increase vaccine hesitancy, rather than embrace vaccinations?
 
FIERRAVANTI-WELLS: Alan, regrettably, I think it will. I think what we need now is a very clear and a very simple message, and a campaign which highlights the positive benefits of vaccination but also stresses, especially the low risks of blood clots. I mean, let's not forget that you've got a higher probability of getting a blood clot on a long-distance flight, then you have from taking the AstraZeneca vaccine.
 
JONES: Can I just leave you - we always run out of time to Tanya and Concetta. Can I leave you with one thing which really disturbs me and I haven't had time to raise this tonight. I've got pharmacists in West and South West Sydney, writing to me and ringing me wanting to vaccinate multicultural customers but they're not allowed because the pharmacist didn't apply before February 5, so they're not part of the vaccine roll out. Now surely - I'll leave it with you - we haven't got time to talk about it but if the government are fair dinkum, why don't they allow the pharmacists in Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury Bankstown to actually get on with the vaccinations? Can I leave that both with you? And if the problem still crook, we'll talk about it next week. But thank you so much for your time. I do always appreciate your input.
 
PLIBERSEK: Good night. 
 
FIERRAVANTI-WELLS: Thank you.

ENDS