Pfizer vaccine expected at city aged care facilities this week

Three hundred thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have landed in Australia as Toowoomba still waits on the first phase of the nationwide rollout.

Hundreds of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have arrived in Australia and will be used for phase 1b.

After delays in the vaccine rollout last week, Toowoomba aged care facilities have once again been told to expect the Pfizer jabs this week.

Addressing the media on Sunday, Health Minister Greg Hunt said 129 aged care centres across the country had received their vaccinations.

“We have over 9,500 aged care residents, and they are part of a broader cohort of over 31,800 participants so far, who have been vaccinated as part of phase 1a,” Mr Hunt said.

“I’ve been advised that 50,000 Pfizer doses are being distributed to the states today and tomorrow and over the coming days – that’s part of a broad distribution plan prior to today.

“The CEO of DHL, the principal logistics company for that particular vaccine has indicated that there have been 420 shipments totalling over 486,000 kilometres of distance travelled.”

Mr Hunt also revealed that the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, to be used in the later phases of the rollout, touched down in Australia at the weekend.

“Three hundred thousand doses of AstraZeneca vaccines touched down this morning,” Mr Hunt said.

“It’s the first of 53.8 million units of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be made available in Australia.”

Elderly residents aged 70 years and over and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over 55 years of age are some of the groups to be vaccinated when phase 1b starts in mid-March.