Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has put the COVID-19 vaccine supplier for multiple Wagga aged care centres "on notice" after an overdose incident in Queensland.
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Mr Hunt said the federal Department of Health had appointed an additional vaccine provider for NSW after the Queensland incident delayed the rollout in parts of the state.
Some Wagga aged care centres were due to start vaccinating their residents on Wednesday but the supplier for NSW and Queensland, Healthcare Australia (HCA), advised that delivery had been pushed back.
A doctor from HCA had that morning given quadruple vaccine doses to two elderly residents of a North Brisbane aged care centre.
Mr Hunt on Thursday afternoon that HCA had "slowed down" its vaccine delivery in some areas of NSW in response to a "demand from the [Health Department] that they provide an absolute guarantee of clinical certainty and quality".
"The company has had the book thrown at it by [Chief Medical Officer of Australia] Professor Brendan Murphy - not something he does very often - and a series of actions are occurring...they have been put on notice of termination for any further significant breaches," Mr Hunt said.
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Mr Hunt said the two Brisbane residents who were given vaccine overdoses had not shown any adverse effects and had been cleared to leave hospital when their circumstances permitted it.
On Wednesday night, the Department of Health said in response to questions over the rollout delays in Wagga, that "last minute changes to the schedule have been made in some instances to accommodate vaccine delivery windows, consent arrangements at the residential aged care facility and cold chain management".
HCA did not respond to a request to comment about the rollout delay in Wagga on Wednesday and was contacted for comment on Thursday.
Mr Hunt told Parliament on Thursday that HCA's chief executive Jason Cartwright had been stood down following discussions about how the company had allowed a doctor to administer the COVID-19 vaccine without completing the required training.
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