COVID vaccine rollout: Gladys Berjiklian, Scott Morrison defer to each other after letters

When 48-year-old Blacksmiths man Colin Taylor was unable to get an appointment for a Pfizer vaccine in Newcastle, despite being eligible in phase 1b of the rollout - he sent letters to both the NSW Premier and the Prime Minister's office asking why it wasn't available in the state's second largest city.

"I got a reply from the Premier's office saying it was a federal responsibility, and a reply from the Prime Minister's office saying it's a state responsibility," he said.

"It's ridiculous. It tells me that neither of them know what they are responsible for.

"How are you supposed to rollout a program as important as this if neither the federal or state know whose responsibility it is?"

Mr Taylor said initially the only place he could access a vaccine was in Sydney. But when he tried again for an appointment in Newcastle, it was a six week wait. He has an appointment to get his first dose at the John Hunter vaccine clinic in August.

"I thought I'd ask the right people about it, and I sent it to both of them," he said. "Their responses weren't unexpected, but I was sort of hoping they'd be a bit more on the ball.

"They have had so much time to plan for this, and now we're in the situation where the state government is saying it's the federal government's fault, and the federal government is saying it's on the state government, and it's all because neither of them want their name sullied by this ordinary rollout."

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Mr Taylor, who described himself as a swinging voter, said it was frustration at hearing both the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging people to "do the right thing" and get vaccinated that prompted him to write letters to both offices.

"Every night on the news they are urging people to get it done because the only way to beat COVID is to get vaccinated, the only way out of lock downs is to get vaccinated, the only way to open our borders is to get vaccinated, the only way back to life as usual is to get vaccinated," he said. "It implies that it's the public that's dragging their feet to get vaccinated when it's not - it's them. There are thousands of people who want to get it, but they can't."

In his letters, dated May 31, Mr Taylor wrote: "Please don't send me a link to a web page, or tell me to contact John Hunter Hospital or my local vaccine-registered GP provider. Because this hasn't worked, everyone in Newcastle I have contacted cannot give me a Pfizer vaccine."

Responding on behalf of the premier, Ray Williams - the parliamentary secretary to the premier - said: "As the matter raised falls under the primary responsibility of the Federal Government, it is appropriate that they consider your correspondence."

The director of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet wrote: "Looking at the issues you raise in your letter, the NSW Government would be best placed to respond to you."

Federal Shortland MP Pat Conroy shared Mr Taylor's letters on social media.

He said he was shocked, but not surprised, by the contradictory responses.

"This vaccine rollout has been so chaotic that not even the state and federal government know who is responsible," Mr Conroy said.

"The government had two jobs this year - the vaccine rollout, and a national quarantine system, and it clearly failed to do both of them."

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