Elderly people, aged care staff and health workers will be first in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine jab, with the rollout expected to take place as early as March next year.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the elderly and those who care for them would be Australia’s priority before the vaccine is made more widely available across the nation.
“We are on track to deliver vaccines to Australians, commencing in March of 2021. That is I think extremely important news,” Minister Hunt said.
US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech company this week reported a 90% success rate during late-stage clinical trials.
Australia has secured 10 million Pfizer doses and around 33 million doses from another promising vaccine candidate from the Oxford-AstraZeneca trial.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government’s vaccination policy would be on the agenda for discussion at tomorrow’s national cabinet meeting.
