COVID NSW: Quarantine and health workers first as vaccine rollout begins

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her government would not “muck around” in bringing the COVID vaccine rollout forward if doses arrive here fast enough.

COVID vaccines could be rolled out more quickly than initially planned if the state continues to receive more doses of the jab than expected.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her government would not “muck around” in bringing the rollout forward if the vaccine arrives here fast enough.

“From what I’ve heard and from what I’ve been advised, there could be a chance that the timetable that was issued could be brought forward,” Ms Berejiklian said on Monday.

Ms Berejiklian revealed she had doubts that the vaccine would “arrive before March,” describing the first NSW doses being administered as a “really positive experience”.

She said her government will “look at bringing our timetable forward” if it gets “good and positive news” about vaccine supplies.

“I think the people of this state know that we don’t muck around,” she said.

Chief health officer Kerry Chant was circumspect about life getting back to normal due to the vaccine.

She said “2021 will be a year of calibration”.

“As we progressively get more of the population vaccinated and as we add vaccination to our tool kit will be able to progressively calibrate our public health response,” Dr Chant said.

‘MIGHTY LEAP BACK TO NORMAL’

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has declared NSW can now imagine a time when life is back to normal, marking the first COVID vaccine administered by NSW health authorities.

Frontline staff working with returned travellers will be first to get the jab - with 1200 people set to get their first vaccine dose on Monday.

The Premier said the rollout marks the beginning of a time when we can expect life to soon get back to normal.

Police officer Lachlan Pritchard gets the Pfizer vaccine at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Vaccination Hub in Camperdown. Picture: Toby Zerna

“That will only occur when the vast majority of our population has the vaccine,” Ms Berejiklian said.

Five hundred doses will be administered at Royal Prince Alfred, with the rest to be done at Westmead and Liverpool hospitals.

“We are really positive about making sure in NSW we protect our quarantine workers first and foremost and in so doing reduce the likelihood of them getting it or passing it on to their loved ones,” the Premier said.

Health minister Brad Hazzard said the jab is “very small and very quick” but it’s “a mighty leap for all of us back to normalcy”.

Chief health officer Kerry Chant said people can have faith in the vaccine because we have strong regulatory processes.

Dr Chant said there was no rush to get a vaccine but everyone should come forward for a jab when it’s their turn.

“When it is your time, please roll up your sleeves and get vaccinated,” she said.

Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said his officers will be among some of the first receiving the vaccination on Monday morning.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Vaccination Hub in Camperdown. Picture: Toby Zerna

Nurse manager Bradley McEntee was the third person in NSW to receive the Pfizer vaccine at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Picture: Toby Zerna

“Police are getting the jab as we speak those involved in the hotel quarantine operation are the first on the list which is great,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

“There’s over a thousand police that will get the jab. It’s great that the hotel quarantine police are the first cab of the rank in getting the jab.”

The commissioner added they cannot force staff to get the vaccination but it would limit their operations.

“I think our world will get smaller and smaller for those who choose not to have the jab,” he said. “Overseas travel and a whole range of other activities will become very difficult to do.”

Doors opened at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Hospital early this morning, as police and nurses joined the first of the state’s frontline healthcare and quarantine staff to receive the vaccination on Monday.

Three vaccination hubs operating out of the Royal Prince Alfred, Westmead and Liverpool Hospitals will aim to vaccinate more than 1000 people every day, with border workers, hotel quarantine staff and frontline health workers the first in line.

This includes staff at the three hospitals, with 480 Westmead workers set to get the jab on Monday.

But Ms Berejiklian said it will be weeks before she receives the vaccine, as she “waits her turn”.

Around 4000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Sydney on Sunday. Picture: Steven Saphore/AFP

Around 4000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Sydney on Sunday, with the state aiming to vaccinate around 12,000 frontline workers over the next three weeks.

People receiving the vaccine will be given a wristband with a barcode to be scanned by a registered nurse before getting the injection.

Up to 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be given to hotel quarantine workers, frontline healthcare workers and aged care staff and residents in the coming weeks.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said he hoped to see 60,000 vaccinations across Australia in the next week.

Larger volumes of the AstraZeneca vaccine will become available in March for Phase 1B of the rollout, when the vaccine becomes available to people aged over 70, high-risk workers such as Defence Force personnel and police, and the disabled and vulnerable.

Nurse Jeannette Jarick prepares for vaccination. Picture: Toby Zerna

The state and territory not starting their rollouts today are Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Tasmania will begin its vaccination rollout on Tuesday and will have 2340 doses ready for the first three weeks, which will double to 4680 from the fourth week as phase 1b begins.

The rollout will begin in the next week, with about 3000 vaccinations set to be offered to the most high-risk groups as part of the first phase.

It comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the beginning of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program as a “game changer”, as he joined a small group of people in becoming the first in the country to receive their jabs on Sunday.

First in line for the Pfizer shot was 84-year-old World War II survivor Jane Malysiak, who was born in Poland and moved to Australia as a teenager.

She led the list of 11 other people to receive the jab, including aged and disability care residents and staff, hotel quarantine workers and people in frontline health care roles.