The Health Minister has savaged Anthony Albanese's proposal to provide free rapid antigen tests as a 'dangerous and irresponsible' policy which could cripple the supply chain.
Anthony Albanese has called on the Morrison Government to provide free RATs to the community as Omicron cases surge, marking a change in approach from the Opposition leader who had previously pressured the federal government to subsidise the at-home tests.
“If you had the daily use of 10 million [RATs] a day over 100 days, that’s a billion tests. If you had it over 300 days, that’s three billion tests,” he told reporters. “It’s not a matter of cost, it’s a matter of supply chain and of diverting those tests from people who most need them. Mr Hunt further pointed out that besides the cost of providing free RATs, “it’s about the supply chain and diverting vitally needed resources from those that most need it, and that is absolutely clear”.“Their policy if you calculate it out, could lead to anywhere from one to three billion tests, destroy the supply chain, take the tests away from the hospitals, from those that are sick and from close contacts in critical industries.
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