Second vaccine rollout in March

THE second phase of coronavirus vaccinations — covering Australians aged over 70 and about two million people with underlying conditions and disabilities — is expected to begin in late March.

The federal government is now hopeful it will have 3000 sites for people to receive the jab, with the second phase of its rollout — covering 6.1 million Australians — to begin once supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine are available.

The first phase, to start this month, will cover almost 700,000 people including aged care residents and staff, quarantine and border workers, and frontline healthcare staff.

But authorities will not wait for it to be finished before expanding the rollout to more Australians, with GP vaccination sites activated from late March for the second phase.

The hospital hub model for the Pfizer vaccine — to be used in the first phase — will include “spokes” into smaller hospitals, as distribution teams move around the country to vaccinate frontline workers in their local area.

The vaccine will be taken directly to aged care homes to vaccinate residents.

Pharmacies will be able to distribute the vaccine from the third phase of the rollout, covering 6.5 million people including adults aged 50-70.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government was focused on ensuring “site readiness” for the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at -70C.

Rural Health Minister Mark Coulton said the health workforce in regional and remote areas would “play a pivotal role in support of the rollout of vaccines across regional Australia”.

Australia is relying on offshore supplies of specialist needles required to extract enough doses from Pfizer’s vials. Becton Dickinson, the world’s largest syringe maker, has a contract with the government and is importing syringes.

The company has warned of supply difficulties in the US, but its Australian managing director, Anelo Cournut, said it was “meeting all of its commitments” and delivering needles.

It comes as the Therapeutic Goods Administration said the Pfizer vaccine posed no specific risk to older Australians, after reports of about 30 deaths in 40,000 elderly individuals in Norway who received the jab.

The regulator found the fatalities were “very frail patients”, some of whom were believed to have only weeks to live.