AstraZeneca vaccine arrival to ramp up national rollout

Australia’s rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine will begin by March 8, after the first shipment touched down in Sydney on Sunday.

A container holding the AstraZeneca vaccine arrives at Sydney International airport on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine will begin early next week after the Morrison government failed to meet COVID jab targets for February.

The federal government confirmed 300,000 doses of the ­AstraZeneca jab arrived at Sydney airport on Sunday, a step Scott Morrison said was a significant milestone for the country’s fight against the virus.

Sunday’s latest vaccine data showed the government missed its goal to administer 60,000 doses by the end of February after only 30,000 Australians were inoculated last week.

The Prime Minister said the arrival of the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford vaccine shipment meant Australia could ramp up its rollout to priority groups in the first phase, with frontline healthcare and border workers first in line to receive the jab.

“We will now be able to scale up the vaccination rollout to our priority groups, including our most vulnerable Australians and to our frontline border and health workers,” he said.

“Australia is in a unique position because importantly this vaccine gives us the ability to manufacture onshore. Every Australian who wishes to be vaccinated will be able to receive a vaccine this year.”

The rollout of the imported AstraZeneca jabs is set to begin by Monday, contingent on the imported batch passing the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s testing of quality standards.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday temperature checking of the vaccines was under way but the preliminary advice was that the correct temperature of the vaccine had been maintained during the flight.

Mr Hunt said 200,000 doses from the first AstraZeneca shipment would be sent to the states after the national rollout began last week. Of the Pfizer doses, 50,000 doses will distributed to states and territories over the next few days as the second week of the national rollout commences on Monday.

“What that means is that they will be in a position to rapidly upscaled the rollout to quarantine workers, healthcare workers, to all of the participants,” he said.

“In particular, they have lead responsibility for quarantine and frontline healthcare workers. So it is an important step.”

The latest Department of Health figures said those vaccinated by last Friday included 8110 aged-care and disability residents across 117 care facilities.

The federal government has said it aimed to begin inoculation at 80,000 doses a week by the end of February with the aim to have four million people vaccinated by early April.

On Sunday, the Victorian government said 3762 people had been vaccinated since the rollout began last Monday. Queensland has vaccinated 2030 people in the first week of the rollout at hospitals on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane and in Cairns.

The Queensland government also revealed it issued a show cause notice to Healthcare Australia after the contractor for the federal government wrongly dosed two elderly Queenslanders with the COVID-19 vaccine last week. The residents suffered no adverse effects after being given four times the recommended dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday at the Carseldine aged-care centre, in Brisbane’s north.

The federal government is responsible for rolling out the vaccine in all aged-care homes in Australia, even those owned and run by state governments.

On Sunday, Mr Hunt defended the government’s handling of the vaccination bungle after it put the company on notice for termination. “The CEO has been stood aside after the secretary of the department, frankly, threw the book at them,” he said.

“What we’re seeing is very clear process of transparency at a commonwealth level.”

Australia has secured almost 54 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with 50 million to be made locally in Melbourne by CSL. From late March, one million of the doses to be manufactured on shore will be delivered each week.

Additional reporting: Tessa Akerman, Sarah Elks