MATT DORAN:
The final countdown is underway until the first Australians receive the Pfizer COVID vaccine. Residents and staff at around 240 aged care facilities across the country will be among those rolling up their sleeves. This will begin on Monday.
NATALIE BARR:
There are also 16 Pfizer vaccination hubs at hospitals in major cities. Quarantine workers are in the queue too with the Government classifying them as the most high-risk group.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd joins us now for more. Morning to you. How long will it take to actually vaccinate all the frontline workers?
MICHAEL KIDD:
It's going to be rolling out over the next four to six weeks, Nat, and this will be running out, of course, through those initial hubs which have been established with the states and territories right across the country. And as you mentioned, of course, at the same time, the in-reach teams will be travelling out to residential aged care facilities and disability care facilities right across the country, vaccinating initially the residents and then of course the staff in those facilities as well.
MATT DORAN:
Just sensational news, Michael. We've been waiting a long time for this, it's great that we've got to this stage. Five hundred nurses, I understand, sort of ready to be deployed for this big rollout. After the frontline workers, how does it play out from there?
MICHAEL KIDD:
So, once we've completed Phase 1A, which is the frontline people, then we'll be moving to Phase 1B. This includes Australians aged 80 and above initially, and then those aged 70 and above. It'll include all the rest of our healthcare workforce right across the country, and it'll include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged over 55. It'll also include people who have serious medical conditions or disability which puts them at increased risk if they contract COVID-19. And it will also include some of the other frontline people such as our police and fire brigades, Defence Force, people working in meat works and abattoirs; a number of other groups of people who are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 if we were to get further significant outbreaks of community transmission.
These people will be vaccinated, not only through the hubs which have been established in the states and territories, but also by general practices. And at the moment, we're working with general practices right across the country. We had an expression of interest out and over 5400 general practices in Australia have put up their hand and said, yep, we want to be part of rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine to our local populations.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay. And it's all free for everyone. We look forward to it, Michael Kidd, and we thank you for your time this morning.
MICHAEL KIDD:
Thanks, Nat. Thanks, Matt.
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