Australian COVID-19 vaccination schedule brought forward to February
- by Joy Garcia
- in Medicine
- — Jan 9, 2021
Australia's rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines has been pushed forward to mid-to-late February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced.
The government is hopeful that the Pfizer vaccine will be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration by the end of January.
"They're not testing batches of vaccines before they're disseminated across the population, is my understanding", Mr Morrison claimed, insisting Australian authorities would carry out such testing.
Mr Hunt also said the rollout would begin with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech, with priority being given to frontline workers in healthcare, hotel quarantine and border management.
The vaccination rollout will be top of the agenda when the Prime Minister meets with state and territory leaders at an emergency National Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Pressed further by journalists, the prime minister refused to say if a legal direction to get vaccinated would apply to quarantine workers or aged care residents.
The Government has secured just under 54 million doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with 50 million of those doses produced onshore.
Initially, imported doses will be used before Australia begins producing its own vials at the CSL factory in Melbourne.
Then general practice clinics, existing Commonwealth GP respiratory clinics and a number of other state run vaccination clinics will be used.
The Prime Minister has revealed a five-tier system that will dictate who will get the vaccine first and who will be last.
The Prime Minister said 80,000 people a week would receive the vaccination, with the goal to inoculate 4 million people by the end of March.
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The Pfizer jab is much more hard to distribute because it must be stored at -70C so the AstraZeneca jab will be the one distributed to remote populations.
"But I think it's important for a show of public confidence".
People must wear masks when they leave home for essential business, Palaszczuk said.
Professor Murphy said the last group health authorities would consider vaccinating was children.
The government expects every Australian who wants a jab to get one by October.
However, he stressed that vaccines were not a "silver bullet" and that COVID-safe measures would continue throughout the year.
'Covid safe practices will be a 2021 lived experience.
"This will be a significant defence and offence here and around the world".
In a statement, Pfizer told news.com.au that the logistics of the rollout will be co-ordinated by the Morrison Government.
"It is moving considerably faster than normal vaccine approval processes but without skipping a step, without cutting a corner", he said. A number of arrivals in Australia have tested positive for that strain.
The national cabinet will also meet today to discuss tougher global travel rules, from point of leaving the overseas airport to exiting hotel quarantine in Australia, including the use of masks in airports and during travel.
