Shire residents urged to be patient
COVID-19 vaccination roll out
Douglas Shire residents have been urged to be patient as they wait for the COVID-19 vaccination to become available.
The majority of Australia's 25 million people will be administered the AstraZeneca vaccine and authorities have secured nearly 54 million doses, with 50 million to be produced locally from the end of March. Australia has reported over 29,100 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began.
Louise Cooper, managing director of Mountain View Medical Centre in Mossman, confirmed they will be taking part in the vaccine roll out of phase 1B.
However, she said they are still working through the logistics and are not yet open to bookings.
“We are probably looking at mid-to-late April, but we don’t have definitive word from the Department of Health on when we will receive our vaccines.
“We are looking at creating clinic outside of normal surgery hours so there is a lot of logistics to sort out,” said Ms Cooper.
She said the vaccines will be delivered in multi-dose viles of 10. Once open, you’ll need to use all of it.
“We need to make sure we use all of these vaccinations in the viles in a 24-hour period. The plan is to open time slots outside of practice hours.
“We will be taking bookings to do mass vaccinations on certain days to make sure we use the dose on certain days,” said Ms Cooper.
There will be six million Australians in Phase 1B, however, not all will be able to be vaccinated immediately. Phase 1B includes vulnerable groups, such as older people and people with certain underlying medical conditions.
Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Herald Sun the European Medicines Agency ruling that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective” is an “important piece of global news”.
Italy, Germany and Denmark were among more than a dozen mostly European countries who temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clotting concerns.
“I think this is a very important piece of global medical news. What we are seeing is the European Medicines Agency making same conclusions as the Australian TGA, the Australian chief medical officer, the Australian
Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation that AstraZeneca is safe and effective,” said Hunt.