Update on Australia’s COVID-19 vaccines

The Australian Government has a strategy to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to everyone living in Australia as soon as they are available.

A staged rollout of the vaccine is expected to commence in February 2021.

Healthcare professionals have an important role in discussing and delivering vaccination against COVID-19 with their patients.

The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be available from early mid-February this year. Doses of this vaccine will be available through 30 to 50 hubs at specific hospital sites across urban and rural Australia.

Approval of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is anticipated for the coming months.

Both vaccines will progressively be distributed through an expanded number of sites, including general practice clinics, existing Commonwealth GP respiratory clinics, state-run vaccination clinics and pharmacies.

The vaccine rollout roadmap has determined the phases of vaccination for priority groups. They are:

Phase 1a

• Quarantine and border workers
• Frontline at-risk health care workers
• Residential aged care and disability care staff
• Residential aged care and disability care residents.

Phase 1b

• Adults over 70 years
• All other health care workers
• Begin vaccinating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Younger adults with an underlying medical condition, including those with a disability
• Critical and high risk workers including defence, police, fire, emergency services andmeat processing.

Phase 2a

• Adults over 50 years
• Continue vaccinating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Other critical and high risk workers.

Phase 2b

• Balance of adult population
• Catch up any unvaccinated Australians from previous phases.

Phase 3

• People under 18 years if recommended.

Frontline health care workers in phase 1a are those at the greatest risk of exposure to COVID-19.This includes:

• GP Respiratory Clinics
• COVID-19 testing facilities
• ambulance staff
• paramedics
• ICU staff
• emergency department staff
• clinical and ancillary support staff.

Other health care workers, including GPs, will be included for vaccination for phase 1b; as soon as additional doses are available.

The Department of Health is committed to providing you timely information as it becomes available. Learn more at the Department of Health’s COVID-19 vaccines website and subscribe to the COVID-19 Vaccines Update.

• Download the Health Professionals COVID-19 Vaccine Roadmap Information Sheet