COVID is an adversary that gets a vote in our plans,Lieutenant General John Frewen said.

COVID is an adversary that gets a vote in our plans,Lieutenant General John Frewen said.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“It worked on that occasion and I think moving that footing now will further improve how we’re working in the vaccination program,” the Prime Minister said.

Lieutenant-General John Frewen said his job was about more than bringing military logistics experience to the rollout.

“[Mr Morrison] saw what that military-style command and control structure can deliver in the way it can cut through all of that other process,” he toldThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald.

General Frewen had led the Australian Defence Force’s COVID-19 taskforce since March last year. At the beginning of the month,the Prime Minister decided to put him in charge of the country’s vaccination program in a bid to speed things up.

The brief is large. General Frewen is now in charge of vaccine resources,communications,and stakeholder engagement. He says there are three things that need to be done.

“There’s the supply of the vaccines,there is the ability to get them into people’s arms,and then there’s the public sentiment to have the public turn up.

“The supply of vaccines is the bit that is most fixed”.

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Critically,his role circumvents the normal bureaucratic paths and allows him to instead deal directly with medical groups,the logistics and private medical companies involved in the rollout,including DHL and Aspen Medical,attend meetings with state and territory leaders,first secretaries,chief health officers,and report directly to the Prime Minister.

“I’m in all of these things now,and I’m a completely agnostic,fresh set of eyes. All I want is to get the vaccines to Australians as quickly as we can,” he said.

The Prime Minister was keen to have someone who could streamline the process between government departments,a source close to Mr Morrison said. Where Department of Health secretary Brendan Murphy cannot control the Department of Social Services,General Frewen has that power.

In practice,one of the first things he wants to do now he’s given states the forecast of vaccine deliveries to the end of the year is sit down with those leaders and work out a detailed delivery roadmap.

NSW has already offered that plan,and the General said he’s asked all the other states and territories to come back to him with their own versions.

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“I’m going to sit everybody around the table and we are going to wargame the weeks and the months,and figure out how do we get there and how we need to adjust it,” he said.

One of his most challenging tasks will be taking back control of the narrative,and he’sconcerned about misinformation. A national information campaign is coming,he said.

“We reckon at the moment 70 per cent of Australians will turn out for vaccine. They’ll get around to it,so we want to make sure we get them in the bag,” he said.

“Then there’s about 20 per cent who are still making up their mind. That’s the 20 per cent that we really will want to go after.”

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The General is worried Australians have become too comfortable in our protected COVID normal.

“What’s happened in Victoria and now NSW is just a reminder that this thing is not for controlling,it’s for adapting to and living with,” he said.

“As a military guy I’ve been on lots of operations and those sorts of things and this is an adversary,and we’ve got to remember that the adversary gets a vote in our plans.”

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