Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has revealed that the COVID-19 vaccine will be rolled out in early March.
Previously scheduled for later in the month, it was announced this morning that Australian healthcare and quarantine workers will be prioritised during the vaccine rollout.
“In the same way that [medical] advice has allowed us to bring forward the time from the first half of the year to late March, and now early March, we will be guided by the medical advice,” Hunt stated on the significant advancement.
Once reaching Aussie shores, the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines will be prioritised for frontline workers and aged care residents, once approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The federal government has brought forward the rollout of a vaccine for COVID-19 by a couple of weeks to early March. https://t.co/ztYNUOiZUQ
— SBS News (@SBSNews) January 5, 2021
Mr Hunt stated that nearly 80,000 doses of the jab will reach Australia later this month, with the second major vaccine candidate, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, expected to be in the country and available for distribution by the end of March.
For the past four weeks, the United Kingdom has administered citizens with the Pfizer vaccine, with the AstraZeneca jab scheduled to roll out this week. The UK will be the first country in the world to distribute the Oxford University-developed vaccine.
Delighted to be part of the nurse vaccinator team administering the #CovidVaccine to colleagues @wearetuhf #TUHworkingtogether #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Vx1gI2riB8
— Emma Byrne (@EmmaByrne28) January 5, 2021
The news comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that nation has recorded 1.6 million deaths from COVID-19.
Fingers crossed we can roll out the vaccine and roll on with our lives.