Vaccine rollout to begin in one week

Australia’s vaccine rollout will begin next week with 80,000 Pfizer doses to be given to aged care residents, healthcare staff and hotel quarantine workers.

Australia’s long-awaited vaccine rollout is due to begin in a week, with the first jabs against COVID-19 expected next Monday.

The long-awaited V-Day will rely on 80,000 doses of the highly effective Pfizer vaccine arriving from Europe within days and then passing all necessary tests.

Frontline healthcare staff, hotel quarantine workers and people living and working in aged care will be among the first to receive their Belgium-made doses.

Scott Morrison has also indicated he will be among them as a show of confidence in the vaccine and health system.

Good news is also expected regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days, with the Therapeutic Goods Administration expected to announce its decision on the rollout of the Oxford-developed shot.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt on Sunday confirmed the Pfizer shipment was on its way but would not give an exact date for its arrival.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with the Oxford-AstraZeneca, which is yet to be approved in Australia.

“The vaccine is coming and there are sunlit times ahead,” Mr Hunt said.

He said priority groups would start getting jabs in the final week of February.

“Once we have got the confirmed doses and the confirmed numbers, we will … indicate (who gets the vaccine),” he said.

Mr Hunt said the 80,000 figure was a “minimum”.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that we may be able to do better than that,” he said. “But … I will not count any of these until they are literally in hand.”

The Herald Sun understands the TGA and national vaccine experts were locked into further analysis of the AstraZeneca vaccine over the weekend following a briefing from their UK counterparts.

While sources indicate the TGA is satisfied with the AstraZeneca vaccine based on WHO, European and UK evidence, issues about the timing of a second dose are said to be “more complex”.

Experts from the TGA and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation were on Friday briefed about the latest “real-time” data from the UK, where the gap between doses has been extended by up to three months.

The first doses will be given to aged care residents, healthcare staff and hotel quarantine workers.

Although validated clinical trial evidence has suggested a four to 12-week gap, it is understood those leading the UK program believe a longer gap may be as effective.

If the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved next week, a shipment of 1.2m doses of the jab from overseas would be trigged to aid in the initial part of the rollout, which is expected to take six weeks.

At the end of March, the government will be handed two million doses of Melbourne-made doses and then another million doses every week after that until all 50 million have been supplied.

Australia has an agreement with Pfizer for it to provide 3 million doses between April and June.

Australia’s population has been split into five priority groups, with the most vulnerable up first, before the general population and then children.

More than 6 million Australians, including people aged over 70, Indigenous people over 55 and adults with underlying health conditions, will be in the second priority group.

Among them will also be police officers, Defence personnel and people working in meat processing — a sector that has been hit hard by outbreaks. The two free and voluntary jabs are expected to be about a month apart.