Special needles to ensure no NSW COVID vaccine doses will be wasted

Special needles required to extract the full six doses of Pfizer vaccine from every vial have arrived in Australia, as new data shows NSW has administered a quarter of all jabs to date.

Special needles required to extract the full six doses of Pfizer vaccine from every vial have arrived in Australia, as new data shows NSW has administered a quarter of all jabs to date.

The state has surged ahead with the vaccine rollout, giving out 21,763 doses as of March 7, which was only about 2,000 less than the Commonwealth was able to distribute nationally in disability and aged care.

NSW is leading the way in the early stages of the Pfizer vaccine rollout. Picture: Toby Zerna

Victoria has picked up the pace of its rollout delivering about 10,000 vaccines in the last seven days after only managing 3,862 — a mere 22 per cent of its allocation — the previous week.

Nationally there were 86,369 vaccines distributed in the first fortnight.

Of the 33,702 vaccines given out in week one, NSW was responsible for 10,339, meaning in the past fortnight more than one in every four jabs in Australia were given out by the state.

COVID-19 vaccination data released by the Commonwealth Health Department shows there have been 86,369 jabs administered in Australia in the week to March 7, 2021.

The doses are distributed to states based on population, but for the most recent figures the federal Health Department did not disclose if the number administered was the full allocation for each jurisdiction.

After failing to secure the highly sought after low dead space syringes in time for the start of the vaccine rollout, The Daily Telegraph can reveal the federal Health Department has confirmed shipments finally arrived last week.

“The Australian Government has secured an immediate supply of low dead space (LDS) needles for distribution to all Pfizer vaccination sites,” a spokeswoman said.

“These LDS needles have arrived in Australia and will be dispatched to Pfizer vaccination sites around the country.”

Thousands of frontline health workers in NSW, including NSW acting airport nurse manager Sarah Keast have already received their first dose of Pfizer. Picture: Toby Zerna

The needles are designed so minimal liquid is left behind in the syringe after an injection has been given, which means less vaccine is wasted.

This enables health workers to reliably get the full six doses from each Pfizer vial, whereas with normal needles many had only been able to extract five jabs.

Huge demand for low dead space needles sparked a worldwide shortage earlier this year, but Australia was able to secure a contract for the supply of various needles, syringes and sharps disposal containers with Becton Dickinson.

Normal needles make it difficult for health workers to get six vaccine doses out of each Pfizer vial. Picture: Annette Dew

Confusion around how the doses are counted caused frustration in NSW in the first week of the rollout after federal government data showed the state had been allocated 14,040 jabs and only administered 74 per cent.

But NSW actually received about 11,700 effective doses, with about 2000 going to waste due to a lack of low dead space needles.

A NSW Health spokesman said the federal data “is based on an estimate of six doses per vial”.

As the rollout continues teams of Australian Defence Force personnel are preparing to be deployed to assist with vaccinating aged care residents in remote and rural areas.

It is understood between 70 and 100 ADF members will move around the country, including in rural NSW, in teams of four or five to help distribute the vaccine in regions where health companies contracted to do the rollout are struggling to get to.