Kathmandu, July 2. Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s former Prime Minister from 2015 to 2018, said on Thursday that the country’s vaccination effort is a “phenomenal failure.”

During an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Turnbull opined, “I can’t think of a bigger black and white failure of public administration than this … Governments make lots of mistakes of course, as we all do, but this is something that was very doable.”

Turnbull also claimed that the slow vaccination drive has caused Australia to lose its image in front of world powers. Australia is “way behind” comparable countries, said the former PM.

So far, nearly 8 percent of Australians are vaccinated against the coronavirus. A very low number when compared to the USA and UK that have vaccinated more than 45 percent of their people. 

Turnbull also criticized PM Scott Morrison’s administration for creating confusion regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Turnbull said, “Vaccine hesitancy is a problem everywhere and at every time, it is as though governments are trying to do their utmost to maximize it at the moment with all of the disagreements and confusion … But the fact that you’ve got so many other premiers and chief medical officers disagreeing with it, and very vocally, obviously undermines confidence in the vaccine.”

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