Meat, emergency, disability workers under 50 now eligible for Pfizer jab in Victoria

Younger Victorians will soon be able to get a coveted coronavirus jab once exclusively meant for health workers and the elderly.

Younger Victorians will soon be able to get a coveted coronavirus jab once exclusively meant for health workers and the elderly.

From Monday, workers under the age of 50 in the disability, meat, seafood and emergency services sectors, and those with underlying health conditions will be able to get the jab.

Public transport workers and taxi and rideshare drivers will be able to get the vaccine from May 24.

The doses will be available through GPs and the state’s vaccination centres.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said it meant thousands of younger Victorians would now be able to access the jab.

“We’ve made it as simple as possible to access the Commonwealth’s vaccination program in Victoria,” Mr Foley said.

“Hundreds of thousands of critical workers, transport workers and others now have a clear pathway to access the vaccine recommended for their age – protecting them, their family, and the people they work with.”

It comes after some 351,000 Pfizer doses arrived in the country last week, with CSL producing more than 700,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines locally.

Acting Premier James Merlino says the state has the capacity to vaccinate more Victorians. Picture: Alison Wynd

People under 50 in the general population still don’t qualify.

Acting Premier James Merlino said the state had the capacity to offer more vaccines if the Commonwealth increased supply.

“Our state sites can do two to three more than what we are doing, but that is dependent on the supply of the vaccine,” he said.

“The number of vaccines in our state sites is almost 300,000, which leads the nation. We’re tracking about 8000 a day, but our capacity is two to three times that.”