OPINION: Scott Morrison has not secured vaccines, he has ordered them

That's great, but it doesn't mean any Australian that wants one will be vaccinated by the end of the year or that the country will open its border to much needed international tourists. In fact, having a substantial amount of vaccines in Australia doesn't really mean much at all.

The PM does not want to guarantee we will have the vaccines in the country by a set time or even set a timeline for the vaccination of all Australians.

Mr Morrrison and his government continue to use the word "secured" when discussing the Pfizer vaccine.

Our vaccinations don't actually sound very "secure" at all.

The Leader questioned the prime minister's language asking him if there were any guarantees the Pfizer vaccine would be in Australia in the time frame he outlined?

He did not directly answer that question but said: "We have been able to secure additional Pfizer vaccines, as well as the Novavax vaccine, all of which will particularly be coming in the second half of this year."

What exactly does "securing" mean?

We understand the Australian government and Pfizer have a legally binding contract in place.

But how can the prime minister say the vaccine is secure until it is paid for and in the country? The vaccines that were supposed to be here already were ordered and under a contract but did not arrive. The European Union could delay the vaccines. A problem could develop with the Pfizer vaccine as it has with the AstraZeneca vaccine; anything could happen.

Language is important, especially when the prime minister and his government are struggling to maintain the public's confidence in the vaccine rollout. It is not the media that is contributing to the lack of confidence, as the prime minister keeps hinting at when he says to journalists, "you have a job here too."

Perhaps the prime minister should say the country has "ordered" additional Pfizer vaccines. That would be a more accurate description.

Five months after Mr Morrison announced Australians were "at the front of the queue" for vaccination, our rollout is presently ranked 104th in the world.

Poll after poll tells us the public appreciates leaders who are straight talkers in an emergency situation, be that a bushfire, flood or indeed a global pandemic.

The prime minister is not being straight with us.

When the Leader asked the PM specific questions about the behind schedule rollout program, he would not answer them directly.

We asked him:

If coming from the EU, does the vaccine need EU authorisation to depart?

Has money been paid to Pfizer?

Secured does not mean delivered as we have seen, so is there any guarantee it will be here in the time frame the PM outlined?

How did the PM manage to get 20 million Pfizer doses overnight when for weeks he has been saying 'supply' problems were the cause of the slow vaccine rollout?

Instead of directly answering, the prime minister issued this statement.

"The COVID-19 vaccine rollout out is one of the largest logistical exercises ever undertaken in this country. Around 1.2 million Australians have been vaccinated in the first seven weeks. Over that period of time, we've gone from around 30,000 a week to over 300,000 a week, and that number continues to climb. That's a tenfold increase in the rate of rolling our vaccine out in just seven weeks, and it's still going up.

"The vaccination program is greatly supported by the fact that here in Australia, we are making one of the several vaccines that we are using here in this country, the AstraZeneca vaccine. That vaccine is being produced in Australia, and we're only one of around 20 countries in the world where these vaccines are being manufactured in their own country. This gives us the advantage to keep the vaccination program, particularly for these priority groups, as we move through the year.

"We have also been able to secure additional Pfizer vaccines, as well as the Novavax vaccine, all of which will particularly be coming in the second half of this year."

Australians are not silly. We know as a nation we remain vulnerable.

The PM can trumpet our low death numbers until the cows come home. The federal government had hardly anything to do with that. Our low death numbers are mainly a result of how well the states and each particular health service has done.

Australians know each day our citizens are not fully vaccinated is another day our international borders will remain closed, shutting off vital international tourism into our country and the boost to our economy that brings.

Public confidence in the vaccination program isn't jeopardised by journalists asking reasonable questions but by politicians' failure to answer them.

Confidence is low in the vaccination program Mr Morrison. You may not hold a hose, but you do hold the nation's health in your hands and you are in control of the language you use. Australians would like less spin and more truth. The ball is in your court.