This report provides a background to Australia’s vaccine roll-out strategy and places the current pace of the roll-out into context with the broader strategy, and the newly released National Plan to Transition Australia’s National COVID Response.

Part 2 of the report analyses the core reasons for the delay. This includes an analysis of the different rollout speeds of the Commonwealth and State/Territory vaccination programs. It analyses the delivery methods individually, and in doing so finds a major lag in the delivery of Primary Care vaccinations. It also examines issues of supply, before ultimately concluding that community pharmacies represent untapped potential.

Part 3 provides a model of the benefit of adding pharmacies into the delivery mix. It compares two scenarios, the first based on the Commonwealth’s original plan, and the second based on utilising all suitable pharmacies. It ultimately finds that the utilisation of pharmacies can significantly bring forward the dates of reaching herd immunity targets. Further, it finds that a sped-up roll-out will bring significant economic benefits to Australia.