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NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says the state should “move on” from revelations more than 150 Sydney private schoolboysAustralia, were vaccinated by his ministry while refusing to explain how the situation came about or why no one revealed the error until it was reported in the media.
Mr Hazzard downplayed the Sydney Local Health District’s decision to administer 163 Pfizer vaccines to year 12 students from St Joseph’s College in Hunters Hill during a press conference on Wednesday, saying: “There was a mistake and so what?”
His office did not respond to questions about why St Joseph’s - which, in Hunters Hill, falls into the geographical zone of the Northern Sydney Local Health District - received assistance from a different local health district. Nor did it give any detail about when or why the error was made, by whom, and if the mistake was picked up by health authorities before the Herald’s report on Tuesday.
Mr Hazzard also declined to answer why NSW Health had discussed vaccinations with other private boarding schools, including The King’s School at Parramatta and St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, if the St Joseph’s arrangement was a mistake.
The decision to vaccinate year 12 students at the high-fee private school, most of whom were ineligible under the rollout, has sparked fury from vulnerable adults waiting for their shot and teachers who argue they should be given priority.