Australian’s vaccine rollout will begin on Monday but the Sunshine Coast will have to wait its turn after the Gold Coast was earmarked as Queensland’s first hub.
Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine had arrived in Australia.
The shipment included more than 142,000 doses of the vaccine, with 50,000 set to go to the states and territories for hotel quarantine workers, frontline health workers, and residential and disability care.
Mr Hunt said the doses would be divided among the states depending on their population.
Queensland will begin a staged delivery across the state as soon as the first Pfizer vaccines are provided by the Federal Government.
“Gold Coast University Hospital is the first vaccination hub in Queensland,” a Queensland Health spokesperson said.
“Once more vaccine supply arrives, we’ll rollout vaccines to Phase 1a priority groups at the Cairns Hospital, Townsville Hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital and the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
“Soon we will start receiving stock of the AstraZeneca vaccine, pending approvals, and we will be able to move beyond just the initial locations.
“The Gold Coast region was one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 during the peak of the pandemic, so it makes sense it’s the first to take us to this next milestone in the COVID-19 response.”
Australia has secured more than 150 million doses of various vaccines.
That includes almost 54 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with the vast majority to be manufactured in Melbourne, and more than 51 million from Novavax.
The medical regulator is expected to soon announce approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Australia is also part of the international COVAX facility, which provides access to a range of vaccines in order to immunise up to half of the population.
Meanwhile, the number of Australians allowed to return home each week is again being debated after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews suggested a smaller number should be allowed back.
His state went into a snap lockdown after the virus spread out from the hotel quarantine system.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee continued to meet every day.
Improving the hotel quarantine system was the main focus of Monday’s meeting, he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has left the door open to cutting international arrival numbers, saying there was room for discussion.
“We’d obviously like to get every Australian back as soon as possible but there are quarantine restrictions, of course. There are limits on those numbers coming back in,” he told the ABC.
Victoria recorded one new locally acquired case of coronavirus on Monday, the state’s third day of a five-day lockdown.
Australia has also paused quarantine-free travel from New Zealand after three infections were recorded in Auckland.
