Australia Launches National COVID-19 Vaccination Program with Three Approved Vaccines and Five-Phase Rollout Plan

China News Service, January 27 – According to a report by The Epoch Times, the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer Inc. of the United States and BioNTech of Germany has been approved for use in Australia. Health authorities will begin vaccinating the most vulnerable populations within a few weeks.

Australia has currently secured three vaccines. One is the 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine already obtained by the Australian government. In addition, the government will acquire 53.8 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Australia’s third vaccine is the Novavax vaccine, produced by the U.S. biotechnology company Novavax, which is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials in the United States and Mexico. If the trials prove successful, Australian authorities expect to secure 51 million doses of the vaccine in 2021.

Meanwhile, Australia is also a member of the “COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX)” initiative, which enables governments to secure access to more successful candidate vaccines.

As early as early January, Australian health authorities briefly outlined the five phases of vaccination for Australians, with the plan scheduled to be implemented as early as late January.

Phase 1a is expected to vaccinate 678,000 individuals. The target population includes staff at quarantine hotels and border control facilities, frontline healthcare workers, patients susceptible to infection, and staff and residents of nursing homes and disability care institutions.

Phase 1b is expected to include more than 6.1 million people eligible for vaccination. The target population comprises adults aged 70 years and older, other healthcare workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 55 years and older, younger adults with underlying medical conditions (including those with disabilities), and workers in high-risk settings, including police, fire and emergency services, defense personnel, and meat processing workers.

Phase 2a is expected to have 6.5 million people eligible for vaccination. The target population includes adults aged 50 to 60 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 18 years and older, and other workers in critical and high-risk industries (the government has not yet specified the exact industries).

Phase 2b is expected to have 6.6 million people eligible for vaccination. The target population includes the remaining adults and Australians who were not vaccinated in previous phases.

Phase 3 vaccination targets children under 18 years of age (if recommended by a physician).

The report stated that the first two priority groups for vaccination would receive their shots at 50 designated hospitals in Australia’s metropolitan and regional areas. People living or working in aged care facilities and disability care institutions could also be vaccinated on-site.

Upon completion of the first two phases of vaccination, up to 1,000 additional sites will be added to the list of vaccination locations to meet the needs of a broader population. These will include local general practitioner clinics, respiratory clinics, community pharmacies, and Aboriginal healthcare service providers.

The Australian Department of Health stated that general practitioners would be the "cornerstone" of the vaccination program.