Covid Qld: Extra 112,320 Pfizer doses coming to the Sunshine State
Queensland’s fight against the Delta outbreak will be boosted, with an emergency allocation of tens of thousands of Pfizer vaccine supplies on the way to the sunshine state within days.
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An emergency boost of Pfizer vaccine supplies will be delivered to Queensland within days in a bid to help contain the Delta strain outbreak which has sent the southeast into lockdown.
An extra 112,320 doses of the vaccines have been secured and will arrive on August 9 in a deal signed off by Prime Minister Scott Morrison late Wednesday night.
The doses are over and above what had already been allocated for August, under “operation urgency” being overseen by Covid taskforce leader Lieutenant-General John JJ Frewen.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the doses would be arriving within the week.
“I will always work closely with our Premiers to make sure Australians are protected in their time of need,” he said.
“This is a major shot in the arm not only for individuals, but for Queensland’s fight to beat this outbreak.
“I know Queenslanders can beat this, and my government will stand shoulder to shoulder with them every step of the way.”
The extra doses had been secured and were going to be deployed on top of Queensland’s allocation for September.
But they will now be rushed forward to instead boost the August supply. It is on top of the additional 150,000 AstraZeneca jabs which will arrive next week.
The new supplies have been secured without reallocating doses from other states.
Queensland primary care doses of Pfizer had already increased to 414,000 doses this month, almost double what it was, while Queensland Government supplies would be increased from 348,000 to 409,000 doses.
ATAGI’s advice has changed to say that the AstraZeneca jab was open to everyone consistent with the advice of their GPs, with people strongly urged to consider it during an outbreak, and a major study out of Spain found it had a “similar” risk profile to Pfizer.
It was revealed this week that Queensland Health did not order any AstraZeneca doses last month.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath this week called for the Morrison Government to secure more Pfizer doses to help contain the outbreak.
Just over a week ago Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles rejected a request from NSW for some Pfizer doses to be redirected to help with the Sydney outbreak, saying Queensland had “meagre” supplies of Pfizer to spare.
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