Coronavirus Australia: AstraZeneca vaccine rollout to begin in SA

Australia’s drug regulator has given AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived in Sydney this week the green light for rollout.

Australia’s first doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will be given to people in South Australia from Friday.

At least 300,000 overseas-made doses arrived in Sydney on Sunday and have now been given the tick of approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration following batch testing.

This will help support the first phase of the vaccine rollout among quarantine and border force workers, frontline health staff, and nursing home residents.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday welcomed the rollout of the AstraZeneca jab beginning in South Australia.

“We were able to secure (the doses) from overseas, supporting this first phase of the vaccine rollout across the country,” Mr Morrison said.

A container with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines is removed from the Emirates airlines plane after landing in Sydney. Picture: Edwina Pickles – Pool/Getty Images

“Let’s not forget though that 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be made right here in Australia, in Melbourne.”

Mr Morrison said the government had made the decision to manufacture at home so it was not overreliant on supply from other countries.

Tens of thousands of Australians in the first priority group have already received the Pfizer jab.

Australia’s chief nursing and midwifery officer, Alison McMillan, will provide an update at 2pm (AEDT).

More to come