COVID vaccine for Australians aged over 50 could be fast tracked

Millions of Australians could be eligible for the COVID vaccine within weeks under a push to speed up the jab’s rollout.

Scott Morrison is pushing to give early access to COVID-19 vaccines to all Australians aged over 50 in an effort to speed up the rollout and combat mounting hesitancy.

The Prime Minister said there were “strong, strong arguments” to bring forward the vaccination of people aged over 50 from June, with the national cabinet expected to decide on Thursday if the change can happen safely and effectively.

While GP clinics will remain the primary vaccine distribution points, the Herald Sun understands the national cabinet on Monday considered complementary small-scale vaccination hubs, such as in community halls.

Speaking before the meeting, Mr Morrison said authorities were also planning a “12-week sprint” at the end of the year to vaccinate Australians under 50 at mass vaccination sites.

This would be focused on the Pfizer and Novavax vaccines, after authorities recommended AstraZeneca was not preferred for those under 50 due to the risk of rare blood clots.

Mr Morrison said the government’s “top objective” was vaccinating the most vulnerable Australians — those aged over 70 and frontline workers — in the first phases of the rollout.

But he said it was “becoming clear … that we can actually do both” and shift to vaccinating younger Australians at the same time.

SScott Morrison said there were “strong, strong arguments” to bring forward the vaccination of people aged over 50.

“We don’t want to see one vaccine that’s rolling off the line and going through the approval processes and the batch-testing sitting in a fridge,” he said.

“If there is someone over 50 who is there and wants to take that vaccine, we’ll be looking at how that can be achieved today and in what type of time frame we might commence that process.”

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said the rollout needed to be “recalibrated”.

“We stand ready, willing and able to do more in terms of mass vaccination, but that is subject to supply,” Mr Merlino said.

“We want to see change, we want to see action, and most importantly we want to see a sense of urgency, coming out of our national cabinet.”

The leaders received briefings at Monday’s meeting from experts including Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Korshid and Commodore Eric Young, the operations co-ordinator in the national vaccine operations centre.

Geoff Isaacs receives a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from general practitioner Dr. Anthony Kresevic at the Edmonton Family Medical Centre. Picture: Brendan Radke

So far, almost 1.6 million vaccine doses have been delivered across the country.

Mr Morrison said the updated health advice on the AstraZeneca jab caused “a particular shock to the system” and was one of the “early challenges” in the rollout.

But he said Australia was “living in a way the rest of the world was not”.

“The pandemic is raging globally,” Mr Morrison said, as the number of new cases a day headed towards 800,000 worldwide.

Amid renewed debate about the prospect of home quarantine for some returned travellers, Mr Morrison said he was “not going to have Australia’s way of life changed by an incursion of cases into the country”.