Second phase of vaccine rollout to begin in March

The second stage of the coronavirus vaccine rollout will begin in late March and be expanded as quickly as possible.

The second phase of Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout is due to begin in March. Picture: Fred Tanneau/AFP.

The second phase of coronavirus vaccinations — covering Australians aged over 70 and about two million people with underlying conditions and disabilities — is expected to begin in late March.

GPs will start distributing the vaccine in this phase of the rollout, which covers 6.1 million people.

It will begin when domestic supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine are available.

The first phase, to start later this month, will cover almost 700,000 people including aged-care residents and staff, quarantine and border workers and frontline healthcare staff.

But authorities will not wait for it to be finished before expanding the rollout to more Australians, with GP vaccination sites activated from late March for the second phase.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley on Wednesday morning revealed more details about how the vaccine will roll out in Victoria.

The federal government is now hopeful it will eventually have 3000 sites for people to receive the jab.

The Herald Sun can also ­reveal the hospital hub model for the Pfizer vaccine — to be used in the first phase — will include “spokes” into smaller hospitals, as distribution teams move around the country to vaccinate frontline workers in their local area.

Vaccinations have already begun overseas. Picture: Fred Tanneau/AFP.

The vaccine will be taken directly to aged-care homes to vaccinate residents.

Pharmacies will be able to distribute the vaccine from third phase of the rollout, covering 6.5 million people including adults aged 50-70.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government was focused on ensuring “site readiness” for the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at -70C.

“This includes undertaking detailed implementation planning with peak bodies, jurisdictions and vaccination providers to ensure access to doses and to minimise wastage,” Mr Hunt said.

Rural Health Minister Mark Coulton said the health workforce in regional and remote areas would “play a pivotal role in support of the rollout of vaccines”.

Australia is relying on offshore supplies of specialist needles required to extract enough doses from Pfizer’s vials. Becton Dickinson, the world’s biggest syringe maker, has a contract with the government and is importing the “low dead space” syringes which can take six doses from each vial rather than five.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration said the Pfizer vaccine posed no specific risk to older Australians, after reports of about 30 deaths in 40,000 elderly individuals in Norway who received the jab. The regulator said those victims were “very frail patients”, some of whom were believed to have only weeks to live.