Australia to roll out COVID-19 vaccine from February
More details have been revealed about when Aussies will start getting the COVID-19 jab.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
COVID-19 vaccines will now be rolled out across Australia from February, with frontline workers and aged-care residents the first to get the jab.
People aged 70 and older will be in the second group to roll up their sleeves, according to a revised plan unveiled by Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday.
The first vaccines will be available from mid-to-late February, brought forward from March.
It comes as Brisbane enters a strict three-day lockdown after a mutant strain of COVID-19 was detected.
SA Health Premier Steven Marshall said vaccinating 1.7 million people against the virus would be the “largest logistic exercise in South Australia’s history”.
“We will start with the people on the frontline, the people coming into contact with people who are infectious, and then working through on a risk priority methodology,” Mr Marshall said.
About 80,000 jabs are expected to be delivered each week nationally, with a target of 4 million doses by the end of March. Vaccination hubs will be set-up at hospitals to deliver the initial shots, and then up to 1000 jab sites at pharmacies and GP centres will administer the vaccine later in the year.
Australia will get the Pfizer vaccine first, followed by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.
Mr Marshall said: “We are starting with people working in high-risk situations, like those in aged-care facilities, airports and quarantine hotels and then moving to frontline medical staff, people aged over 70, Aboriginal communities and then it will continue through the population.”
Critical and high-risk workers such as defence, police, fire, emergency services and meat processing workers will be in the second group to get the vaccine, along with Indigenous Australians aged 55 and older and younger adults with serious medical conditions.
The third group vaccinated will be Australians in their 60s and 50s, Indigenous Australians aged 18 to 54 and more critical and high-risk workers.
The remaining adult population will be vaccinated later in the year.
Children may not get the vaccination. They are listed as the final group to receive the jabs but only “if recommended”, because the vaccinations have yet to be tested on people under 18.
The Federal Government has repeatedly promised the vaccines will be voluntary but Mr Morrison acknowledged they might be made mandatory for some workers.
“That is an important discussion for the public health and safety that needs to be had with states and territories,” he said.
Mr Morrison warned vaccination was “not a silver bullet” and COVID-safe practices would need to continue in 2021.
Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy said the vaccines would be free, including GP visits.
“We’re working with the medical bodies about how that will be achieved but we do not want cost to be any barrier whatsoever to access to the vaccine,” he said.
The amount of vaccines delivered to each state would depend on the number of people in the priority groups in each phase of the rollout.
Mr Morrison and state premiers will hold a special national Cabinet meeting today to discuss new measures to prevent the highly infectious UK COVID-19 strain from causing outbreaks in Australia.
Mr Marshall said he would be calling on states and territories to support pre-flight testing, which was part of his eight-point medi-hotel plan, in addition to the 14 days of quarantine for international arrivals. “We think the increasingly dangerous situation overseas requires every effort to be made to minimise the risk to Australia,” he said.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese welcomed the vaccine rollout being brought forward to February.
“It is a good thing that the government is now doing what it said was impossible just days ago,” he said.
Both the Pfizer and the Oxford doses need to be given as two separate doses, some weeks apart.
‘It can be fatal’: Health warning for SA babies as RSV spike climbs
A health alert has been issued to SA parents after a shock spike in RSV cases presenting to emergency rooms – with more than half being young children under the age of 5.
New emergency ‘threats’ putting SA at risk, landmark inquiry finds
The Covid pandemic, River Murray flood crisis, bushfires and statewide blackout were all declared major emergencies over past 20 years. Now, a major inquiry identifies new threats risking state.