Vaccination news.
In Australia, health operations are devolved to the State Governments. In a COVID-19 vaccination context the Australian federal government is responsible for selecting, procuring and regulating the COVID-19 vaccines whilst the State & territory governments are in charge of delivering the vaccination to the population.
(Source: Australian Government)
At time of writing (Feb 2021)Australia has 10million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 53.8million doses of the AstraZeneca. Numbers are allocated to the States proportionally based on population size.
The first phases will include residents and staff of aged and disability care facilities, quarantine hotels, airport staff, and health care workers working in high risk exposure and transmission areas, such as COVID testing clinics and emergency departments.
At time of writing, these are the planned dates for roll out.
NSW - 14th Feb.
VIC - 15th Feb. Victoria has had the most covid cases.
WA - “Mid Feb” - no specific date given at time of writing.
QLD - “Mid Feb” - no specific date given at time of writing.
WA - “Mid Feb” - no specific date given at time of writing.
SA - "Mid Feb" - no specific date given at time of writing.
TAS - No indication yet of roll out timing.
ACT - "Mid to late February".
NT - No indication of roll out timing yet but huge logistical issues in this Territory.
Later priority groups (including the general population) will most likely be receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine (pending approvals). This process is expected to begin in March 2021 and will take several months for all Australians to be vaccinated.
Whilst debate is taking place on Covid-19 vaccination passports for international travel, no policies have been announced at time of writing.
NB: some health services in Australia require overseas trained Consultants/Specialists to provide their immunisation history (MMR, Hep B, Pertussis) before a job offer is formally issued.
References: https://www.health.gov.au, https://www.covid19data.com.au; https://www.nswhealth.gov.au, https://www.health.qld.gov.au, https://www.nt.gov.au, https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/; https://www.sahealth.gov.au; https://www.health.act.gov.au, https://www.health.tas.gov.au;