What's New
On Monday 15th February the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived into Australia. This is a major milestone in Australia’s response to the pandemic. This is the first shipment of 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine the Australian Government has secured as part of Australia’s COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Strategy. You can read more on this announcement here.
This week the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Greg Hunt MP announced Australia’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program will commence from next week. People in priority groups who are most at risk and who need protection the most will receive a vaccine first. You can read more information on this here.
Also this week the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced their approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The first priority groups in Australia will start receiving this vaccine in March and people will require two doses between 4-12 weeks apart.
The TGA has assessed the AstraZeneca vaccine to be safe and effective for all people aged 18 and over. The Australian Government Department of Health’s priority is to protect all older Australians as soon as possible.
In the TGA’s rigorous assessment of the AstraZeneca vaccine, they have not identified any evidence to indicate it is not safe or effective for people over the age of 65. The experience and evidence from the rollout of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines in the UK is that they have both been very effective among older people. The Provider Information Statement from the TGA is highly precautionary and cautious, and is based on current clinical trial information. Further clinical trial information from studies of older people is expected in the coming weeks. The Australian Government is confident the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer vaccines are both safe and will protect against COVID-19 among all adults, including elderly people, and particularly will provide protection against severe disease.
There is no requirement for people over the age of 65 to discuss with their GP whether they should or should not have the AstraZeneca vaccine, unless they are very frail and/or rapidly approaching the end of life. Patients who are very frail, or their carers, are advised to discuss any vaccination with their GP.
Aged care residents will start receiving COVID-19 vaccines from Monday, 22 January 2021, as part of phase 1a of the national rollout schedule. GPs have an important role to play in supporting the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the community, including older Australians in residential aged care. This includes:
- being consulted where a residential aged care facility has any concerns about a resident’s suitability to receive the vaccine, including where an acute medical issue arises on the day
- when residents, their family, carers and decision-makers choose to engage with a GP to discuss the benefits and risks of vaccination, to assist them in their decision about whether to have the vaccine or not.
Details on how the vaccine will be distributed will come out over the coming weeks but for now you can read the announcement and further information here.
The TGA has also published:
As with all other vaccines, informed consent is required before administering each COVID-19 vaccine dose. In the majority of cases, consent can be verbal, written consent is not mandatory.
The Australian Government Department of Health’s COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce has launched the Information for COVID-19 Vaccination Provider’s page. It has clinical guidance, advice and information on COVID-19 vaccines approved in Australia, for COVID-19 vaccine providers:
Resources for vaccination providers and their patients include:
The Australian Government has developed site readiness requirements for COVID-19 vaccination clinics, in consultation with the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. Vaccination sites must meet these requirements.
Find out more about site requirements for:
Vaccination clinic resources on this page also include:
The Australian Government opened an Expression of Interest (EOI) from 23 January 2021 to 3 February 2021 to identify general practices interested in participating in Phase 1b of the national COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Over 5,400 accredited general practices across Australia have expressed an interest in participating. Thank you for this extraordinary level of preparedness to participate in our nation’s vaccine rollout.
The Australian Government Department of Health is currently assessing the responses and prioritising based on capacity, readiness, geographic spread and how they will complement jurisdictional vaccination hubs and clinics. Applicants will be advised of the outcome shortly, with initial sites expected to commence from March.
Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, and Minister for Sport, reinforced the Australian Government’s commitment to protecting the health and wellbeing of senior Australian’s with the Aged care legislation amendment (Serious Incident Response Scheme and other measures) Bill 2020 on the 16th February. The Bill will ensure tangible steps toward the prevention of incidence of abuse and neglect of older Australians in care.
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