Department of Health Secretary Brendan Murphy says there will likely be registration for the Pfizer vaccine in Australia this month, and the AstraZeneca vaccine next month with rollout set to commence by mid to late February.
“We need more data, we need to get that approved by those experts, as soon as we have that data, the panels will meet, the data will be assessed and we will get registration,” Mr Murphy said.
Mr Murphy said if the registration goes to plan, the vaccine would begin rollout to prioty population from mid to late February.
Those first to receive the vaccine include quarantine and border workers, frontline and healthcare workers and residential aged care and disability staff.
“When we get access to significantly more vaccine as we release the batches of – hopefully – registered and fully approved AstraZeneca vaccine, that will lead us to a rapid ramp up within weeks of that initial start and we will expand that rollout out to again, at risk population – that will include the people who are advanced age where we know the risk is higher,” he said.
