Vaccine rollout boss gives indication of when young people will receive Pfizer jabs

The boss of Australia’s Covid vaccine rollout has given those aged under 40 an indication about when they can expect to receive the Pfizer jab.

The head of Australia’s Covid vaccination rollout has suggested younger Australians could be able to start accessing the Pfizer vaccine by September or October.

Lieutenant General John Frewen told ABC on Tuesday he was confident there would be a “greater range” of choice in vaccinations for people under 40 by those months, but could not be more specific.

“It will be a matter for government for when we open up those cohorts. September, October, I’m confident that we’ll have a greater range of choice around the vaccines,” he said.

Almost 8000 young Australians rushed to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine last week after Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered indemnity to GPs who gave the vaccine to people under 60.

“AstraZeneca, has been, and still is, the workhorse,” Lieutenant Frewen told Sky News on Tuesday, stressing Pfizer was being already being administered to ”full capacity”.

Lieutenant General John Frewen is the head of Australia's coronavirus vaccine rollout. Picture: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

Lieutenant Frewen told the ABC he would meet with states and territories later today to continue to “wargame” the pandemic and discuss when under-40s may realistically receive Pfizer.

The meeting will also discuss vaccine capacity issues within states and territories.

Last week, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath warned the state would run out of Pfizer doses by July 9 if the federal government did not intervene.

Australia is receiving about 300,000 Pfizer doses per week.

Lieutenant Frewen told ABC there would be a “real uptick” in mRNA vaccines into September and October, but did not clarify whether this would mean the vaccine would become available to under-40s.

He said groups such as aged care workers would be given priority access to Pfizer for the time being.

Lieutenant Frewen rejected claims AstraZeneca doses were expiring or going to waste, telling Sky News there remained a “strong take-up for AstraZeneca”.

He said wastage rates across the country were at less than 1 per cent and vaccines not being used in Australia were being sent to the Pacific.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese told 41-year-old Triple M Brisbane host Harley Breen he would have been vaccinated by now if Labor was in power.

“We would have done … extra deals last year with Moderna, get more Pfizer, do more deals earlier in bigger amounts” Mr Albanese said.

He said the Morrison government’s vaccine rollout had been “hopeless”.

“We are last in the developed world. Dead last,” he said.

But he argued the federal government, not the states, were not to blame for the slow deployment.

“I think the states have been fantastic … Labor and Liberal,” he said.