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‘Not vaccinated, not our problem’: Barnaby‘s harsh message to unvaxxed

Courtney GouldNCA NewsWire
Barnaby Joyce says if you’re not vaccinated, then you’re not the government’s problem. Newswire/Gary Ramage
Camera IconBarnaby Joyce says if you’re not vaccinated, then you’re not the government’s problem. Newswire/Gary Ramage Credit: News Corp Australia

Unvaccinated Australians have been told if they choose not to receive a jab they will not be the government’s problem as the nation reopens.

Speaking in Canberra on Monday, Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Australia had to move on from its current locked down state.

“Unfortunately, we can't wait for those who decide not to get vaccinated … By the end of October, you'll have more vaccines than people wanting to get vaccinated,” Mr Joyce said.

BARNABY JOYCE PRESSER
Camera IconBarnaby Joyce says if you’re not vaccinated, then you’re not the government’s problem. Newswire/Gary Ramage Credit: News Corp Australia

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“You’ll have chemist shops, GPs and clinics. If in that instance you don’t want to get vaccinated, that’s not our problem anymore.

“We can't wait round, because the cost of it to the Australian taxpayer is so much that somebody, somewhere has to pay this money back.”

Mr Joyce’s comments come as the government revealed two million Australians had been vaccinated in the last seven days.

Australia experienced another record week of vaccinations, with almost two million people inoculated in the last seven days.

“Over 172,000 people came forward yesterday and almost 400,000 over the weekend and 1.9 million Australians – nearly 2 million Australians – came forward last week to be vaccinated, to protect themselves and to protect their families,” Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

If that trend continues, Australia would be well paced to achieve 80 per cent of the population vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine by next week.

Vax Hub
Camera IconPeople queue up to receive a vaccine at a pop up vaccination hub in Melbourne. NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett Credit: News Corp Australia

Overnight, 700,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine arrived in Australia.

Mr Hunt confirmed the first shipment, which arrived at the weekend, would be distributed to pharmacies this week.

“So more points of presence, more vaccines, more opportunity, more people than ever being vaccinated and I hope that this week Australians can come forward, go to their GPs that are new, go to pharmacies that are coming on board, go and take the opportunities in the Commonwealth state clinics and be vaccinated,” he said.

National cabinet was told on Friday there were concerns about the timing of a shipment of Pfizer doses over the next two weeks.

Asked about the supply concerns, which have been raised at press conferences by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Mr Hunt said the matter had now been resolved.

“We're expecting all of our contracted anticipated deliveries will arrive in full,” he said.

Greg Hunt Presser
Camera IconAn issue with a shipment of Pfizer doses has now been resolved, Mr Hunt said. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia

“Look, to be honest, the thing that was raised was the timing of one shipment over the course of two weeks. We have been able to resolve that over the course of the weekend.

“We have been able to ensure that our UK doses arrived earlier and as a consequence of that, we have 1.9 million doses of mRNA that are available for this week, next week there's an increase in that, and the following week will also see well over 1.9 million doses in the first week of October.”

Originally published as ‘Not vaccinated, not our problem’: Barnaby‘s harsh message to unvaxxed

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