Scott Morrison remains under pressure to make rapid antigen COVID-19 tests free as widespread shortages continue around the country.
Talkback radio and social media have been flooded with angry Australians unable to get a test while medical experts slam government inaction on securing enough to meet demand.
Omicron cases continue to surge across the country, with Australia on Monday recording its largest amount of daily cases since the pandemic began.
Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy said there didn’t appear to be a plan from the government surrounding rapid tests.
“There is an inability to supply at the critical moment and there is a lack of equity of access and it is costing so much,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
“The case numbers from Omicron is way outside those of Delta … these numbers are way outside of what people were expecting and this day was always going to come.
“We need rapid antigen tests in play and in people’s hands.”
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the lack of availability surrounding the rapid tests was a major concern, along with reports of retail outlets undertaking price gouging.
“How many people have to go undiagnosed or get ripped off,” he told the Nine Network.
“We can’t have a situation where people at their most vulnerable and their most contagious are wandering around shopping centres looking for tests that don’t exist.”
But Nationals senator Matt Canavan has levelled blame at the Therapeutic Goods Administration, saying questions needed to be asked about why rapid tests were not approved for use until two months ago.
“The hold up was at the feet of the TGA,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
“We should have been better prepared for this.”
Senator Canavan said making the tests free would exacerbate the issue, sparking an increase in demand.
He also said state governments were responsible for the increase in demand due to “vigorous” entry test requirements.
Senator Canavan focused his criticism on the Queensland government for requiring a PCR test before January 1.
“They obviously didn’t plan that very well because within days they were overwhelmed,” he said.
The rapid test shortage coincides with the expansion of the country’s booster program, with an extra four million people becoming eligible for it from Tuesday.
The gap between second and third doses has been reduced to four months, and will shorten to three at the end of January.
The head of Australia’s vaccine rollout, Lieutenant-General John Frewen, said 60 per cent of people already eligible for the third dose have received it.
“We’ve had 2.5 million people come forward for their booster … given it’s Christmas and New Year, I think that’s encouraging,” he told the Seven Network.
Children between five and 11-years-old are also set to get the vaccine from January 10.
Dr Moy said the rollout of the boosters and the start of the child vaccines would be one of the most challenging aspects of the vaccine effort.
“It’s a tight time for everyone at the moment … and there is an exhausted workforce,” he said.
There were 20,794 new cases and four deaths in NSW on Monday.
Victoria reached a daily record of 8577 infections and a further three deaths
There was a record 4249 cases in Queensland, with the sudden death at home of a man in his late 30s who had “probable COVID-19”, according to the state’s chief health officer.
Tasmania registered a record of 466 new cases, as did the ACT with 514.
There were 2552 cases in South Australia, 58 in the Northern Territory and two in Western Australia.
By Andrew Brown and Dominic Giannini in Canberra
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