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Pressure grows on PM to agree to free home tests as millions due for booster

Prime Minister Scott Morrison remains under pressure to make rapid antigen Covid-19 tests free as widespread shortages continue around the country.

Jan 04, 2022, updated Jan 04, 2022
(AAP Image/Jason O'brien)

(AAP Image/Jason O'brien)

It comes as medical experts have slammed government inaction on securing enough tests in order to meet demand.

While the prime minister has previously rebuffed calls to make the tests free for everyone, a lack of tests and large queues at PCR testing areas have contributed to growing criticism.

Talkback radio and social media have been flooded with angry Australians unable to get a test.

Omicron cases continue to surge across the country, with Australia on Tuesday passing the grim milestone of more than 500,000 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.

Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy said there didn’t appear to be a plan from the government surrounding rapid tests.

“There is an inability to supply at the critical moment and there is a lack of equity of access and it is costing so much,” Dr Moy told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“The case numbers from Omicron is way outside those of Delta … these numbers are way outside of what people were expecting and this day was always going to come.

“We need rapid antigen tests in play and in people’s hands.”

But Nationals senator Matt Canavan has levelled blame at the Therapeutic Goods Administration, saying questions needed to be asked about why rapid tests were not approved for use until two months ago.

“The hold up was at the feet of the TGA,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.

“We should have been better prepared for this.”

Senator Canavan said making the tests free would exacerbate the issue, sparking an increase in demand.

He also said state governments were responsible for the increase in demand due to “vigorous” entry test requirements.

Canavan focused his criticism on the Queensland government for requiring a PCR test before January 1.

“They obviously didn’t plan that very well because within days they were overwhelmed,” he said.

Moy said a lack of available rapid tests had hampered people’s personal responsibility during the pandemic to help keep others safe.

Meanwhile, the number of new virus cases recorded across Australia continues to soar.

NSW on Tuesday set records for both Covid-19 hospitalisations and daily caseload, as the state records 23,131 new cases.

There are 1344 people in the state’s hospitals, 78 more than the previous record set on September 21 when NSW was in the grips of the Delta variant.

While ICU numbers are rising – 105 at the latest count – they are well short of the peak of 244 in September.

Intensive care admissions continue to be driven largely by the more severe Delta.

Victoria’s Covid-19 case numbers have hit five figures for the first time with 14,020 new positive cases on Tuesday.

Two more people have died and there are more than 500 people in hospital.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the lack of availability surrounding the rapid tests was a major concern, along with reports of retail outlets undertaking price gouging.

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“How many people have to go undiagnosed or get ripped off,” he told the Nine Network.

“We can’t have a situation where people at their most vulnerable and their most contagious are wandering around shopping centres looking for tests that don’t exist.”

The rapid test shortage coincides with the expansion of the country’s booster program.

From Tuesday, an extra four million people will become eligible for the booster shot.

The head of Australia’s vaccine rollout, Lieutenant-General John Frewen, said 60 per cent of people already eligible for the third dose have received it.

“We have got supply and heading around the country, bookings have been made at a great pace and we’re encouraged by that,” he told the Seven Network.

“We’ve had 2.5 million people come forward for their booster … given it’s Christmas and New Year, I think that’s encouraging.”

Currently, there is a four-month gap after the second vaccine dose before people can get the booster shot.

That time frame will shorten to three months at the end of January.

Children between five and 11-years-old are also set to get the vaccine from January 10.

Moy said the rollout of the boosters and the start of the child vaccines would be one of the most challenging aspects of the vaccine effort.

“We are about to undertake an intense lot of vaccinations in the next few months … and there is an exhausted workforce,” he said.

“It’s a tight time for everyone at the moment.”

 

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