MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The next phase of the COVID-19 rollout, it officially kicks off today. I'm joined from Canberra by the Deputy Chief Health Officer Michael Kidd.
Michael Kidd, good morning. So we know a thousand GP clinics gearing up to administer these vaccines. How many in practice, though, will be able to, care of that flooding situation?
Michael Kidd, can you hear me?
MICHAEL KIDD:
I can hear you, sorry about that.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
And our apologies. The sound mix-up was our end. So we know a thousand GP clinics are set to administer these vaccines today. How many of them, though, in practice will be able to do that, care of the flooding situation which has closed roads and access to some GP clinics?
MICHAEL KIDD:
At the moment, we've had reports from a number of clinics which are not able to be open today to deliver the vaccine or to deliver regular general practice services. We're still waiting to find out exactly how many are affected. The most important thing, of course, is safety. People should make sure that they're not putting themselves at risk by being on the roads. They should be following, of course, all of the instructions that are in place.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. How big a day is it for Australia in our fight against the virus?
MICHAEL KIDD:
This is an incredibly important day. The start of Phase 1B, 6 million people now becoming eligible to receive the vaccine over the next two to three months. So this is another historic day in our tackling COVID-19. And please, if you are eligible to get the vaccine as one of those 6 million people, please make sure you do so over the coming few months.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
And still questions abound this morning as to how the vaccine is accessed from people in this 1B group. They call their GPs; the GPs call them. Michael, how does it work?
MICHAEL KIDD:
So many general practices will be reaching out to their patients who are most at risk, the very elderly patients in their practice. This is why we're rolling out the vaccine through general practices across Australia. So wherever possible, people will be able to receive the vaccine from their own general practice. But we also have the vaccine eligibility checker on health.gov.au, it's right at the top of the web page, you can go online, you can find out if you're eligible and in group 2B, and then it will take you to a link where you can find out which practices are delivering the vaccine in your local geographic area. But please be patient. At the moment, there are 1000 practices which are listed on the website, but over the next four weeks, there'll be another 3500 practices which will start delivering the vaccine. And as each practice comes online, their details will appear on the website as well. We also have over a hundred of our general practice-led respiratory clinics which will be delivering the vaccine in sites right across the country. So they'll be many sites where people can get the vaccine over the next two to three months. Please be patient, but when you get your chance, make a booking and roll up to get your shot.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. Michael Kidd, we'll leave it there. Thanks for joining us this morning.
MICHAEL KIDD:
Thanks very much.
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