The Greens say that the Government must continue to expand and diversify Australia’s vaccine portfolio immediately in light of the varying rates of effectiveness of vaccines against new strains. 
 
“We cannot rely on AstraZeneca as our only contingency plan - we need to have a diverse portfolio to rapidly pivot to deal with new strains, including securing deals with Moderna and more Pfizer doses", Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said. 
 

The Greens have called upon the Prime Minister to boot Craig Kelly from his role chairing a parliamentary committee, following weeks of disinformation intended to undermine the medical response to coronavirus.

The Greens say that decades of decline in Australian manufacturing puts the nation at risk of having fewer options when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, and have called for a publicly-owned vaccine manufacturer.

Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are based on new technology (mRNA), and while CSL has capacity to manufacture the protein based vaccines it doesn’t at this time have the ability to produce mRNA.

 
The Greens recognise the potential role of e-cigarettes in tobacco harm reduction but support a precautionary approach in the regulation of e-cigarettes.

The Greens support the recommendations of the majority Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction report and have made some additional comments.

The Greens are pleased that the Government has finally announced that Australia has joined the COVAX facility. 

Australia’s participation in COVAX is critical to ensuring developing countries, especially our neighbours in the Pacific, have access to a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it becomes available.

Australia has a responsibility to be part of the solution to vaccine nationalism. 

The Government must continue to commit funding to COVAX to actively support smaller nations to access Covid-19 vaccines. 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Health spokesperson Dr. Richard Di Natale have called on the Morrison government to drop the spin and take real action on a COVID Vaccine.

The Greens say the government’s “big announcement” of a vaccine deal with AstraZeneca has turned out to have little substance and the government has also failed to join the COVAX global vaccine initiative despite the Prime Minister saying the world needs to share the vaccine.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

Greens questioning in the Senate COVID Committee today has confirmed the Morrison government has failed to join the COVAX global vaccine initiative despite the Prime Minister saying the world needs to share the vaccine.

Under questioning by Senator Richard Di Natale the Secretary of Health confirmed the government had not signed up to the main international effort to secure vaccine access globally, nor contributed a single dollar.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

Scott Morrison’s pandemic payment announcement is a poor substitute for sick leave and doesn’t properly support the public health push to contain the coronavirus, said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

“Workers can only get this watered-down payment if they’ve been ordered to stay at home, so it won’t cover people who are experiencing symptoms but haven’t yet visited a doctor,” said Mr Bandt.

The Morrison government can use the extensive coronavirus crisis powers already granted to it by Parliament to immediately grant paid COVID-19 sick leave to workers across Australia, according to advice obtained by the Australian Greens, without Parliament having to sit. The Treasurer could grant the leave by issuing regulations, similarly to the way the JobKeeper scheme was established. The advice was provided by the Parliamentary Library.