FRONTLINE healthcare workers and aged care residents in the Mallee will be among the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in either late February or early March.
In a major step forward in Australia’s fight against the deadly coronavirus, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Monday provisionally approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in individuals aged 16 and over.
Australia has bought 10 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which will be enough for five million people to get a dose and booster shot.
The government says it will be rolled out in five phases over the coming months and involve more than 1000 vaccination administration sites.
Mildura Base Public Hospital is expected to be among the 50 hospitals across Australia rolling out the vaccines.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster said the TGA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine was “an important moment” for all Australians.
“The approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine comes after rigorous and independent assessment by the TGA, which shows it meets Australian standards for safety, quality and efficacy,” Dr Webster said.
“A priority group of Australians are expected to now receive the first dose of the vaccine as soon as it can be received from Pfizer and the necessary checks are undertaken by the TGA, prior to its distribution.
“The vaccine will be provided free to Australians, with the priority group of Australians expected to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in late February and early March.”
The first to receive the vaccine will be frontline healthcare workers, quarantine and border workers, as well as aged care and disability care staff and residents.
The next phase will see the vaccine go to elderly adults aged 70 years and over, other health care workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 and over, and younger adults with an underlying medical condition, including those with a disability.
These categories are expected to account for just over 16 million vaccine doses, with the majority of the adult population to be in phases “2a” and “2b” where there will about 32 million doses.
There are concerns, however, that residents in north-west Victoria will miss out on the Pfizer/BioNTech – which has efficacy rates of 94 per cent – when it reaches the latter rollout stages.
Australia has also ordered more than 50 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is still being assessed by the TGA.
The Oxford vaccine’s efficacy rate is much lower than Pfizer’s – at about 70 per cent.
This has Mildura councillor Stefano de Pieri worried that Mallee residents will get “dudded” in the broader vaccine rollout.
The 66-year-old – who has had his spleen removed – is one of the many vulnerable people in the community who will not qualify for the early uptake of the Pfizer vaccine.
“There might be no correlation between being spleenless and getting COVID, but when you put age and low immunity together, it increases your chances of getting the coronavirus,” Cr de Pieri said.
“What I want to know is whether there are other regional centres like Bendigo that will be given the leftovers of the Pfizer vaccine ahead of us?”
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said that work was under way to identify vaccine rollout sites across the state.
“Our priority is to make sure that any vaccine which becomes available can be administered to Victorians as quickly and safely as possible,” a DHHS spokeswoman said.
“Further rollout of other vaccines, particularly the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, will depend on regulatory approval and volume and timing of further doses.”
