Vaccines on the move across Australia in preparation for Monday rollout

They were two clunky cultural references prepared for television news.

“The eagle has landed,” Health Minister Greg Hunt announced Monday, proclaiming that 142,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine had landed in Australia after considerable tension.

And the next day, “AstraZeneca has been granted lift-off permission,” he said, announcing that the Therapeutic Goods Department has approved the AZ vaccine for use in all Australians, but with some caveats. ..

Continuing with the references, vaccine news is progressing at warp speed, especially this week.

However, the two announcements are important for Australia’s future vaccine development. This is what the government calls the largest logistical support exercise ever seen.

This means that the major vaccines to be rolled out in Australia (manufactured by biomedical company CSL with 1 million doses per week and 50 million doses per week from late March) have been approved and are available for use.

This also means that Australians are confident in some things.

• The first jab of the vaccine starts on Monday
• The states have been given 50,000 doses of Pfizer to divide between states, and in most cases, of course, have decided to focus on hotel quarantine workers.
• They will be vaccinated at “16” with frontline healthcare professionals.
• Pfizer Vaccination Hub nationwide from Monday “
• The government will also start vaccination of elderly caregivers with Pfizer vaccine on Monday

Currently, the known list is small.

The list of unknowns is much larger.

And the most pressing unknown revolves around the continuous domestic delivery of Pfizer vaccines.

Currently, as the world is competing for vaccines, the government does not know exactly when the second vaccination will land and when the third or fourth vaccination will land.

We also do not know how much Pfizer vaccine we will receive for early delivery.

A spokesperson for the Minister of Health told ABC: [of Pfizer vaccine] This week it is 142,000 and you need to check your dose weekly. “

“The Commonwealth continues to work closely with Pfizer and the states and territories on the schedule for deploying the COVID-19 vaccination program.”

Earlier this week, the Minister of Health confirmed that Australia plans to administer at least 1 million doses a month from April as part of its initial agreement with Pfizer.

The timing of “further agreements” for an additional 10 million doses during 2021 will be “confirmed.”

Former health director Stephen Dackett said the government is currently under pressure as it “discussed” to expedite vaccination.

“I was on the side of the government and, given our global position, I didn’t think it was necessary to promote vaccination early,” said Professor Dackett.

“But the question is, they announced these deadlines and the general public rationally said,’You said you’re going to start it so far, so how are you going to do it?'” Is to be. “

Where can I get jabs?

The government revealed details earlier this month, but another question is where most Australians need to go to get the vaccine when deployment begins in late March and April. Is there?

ABC understands that GPs interested in being involved in Phase 1b of the vaccine rollout (focusing on the AstraZeneca vaccine) will be notified if needed next week.

Professor Dackett said delivery is a “major problem” and the government will vaccinate at least one million times a week to approach the deadline for vaccination of all Australians who wish to be vaccinated by October. He said he would need it.

“For example, you take them [CSL] Their words of producing one million doses a week still have the problem of putting it in people’s arms, “he said.

“I’ve heard that many GPs are raising their hands, which is great, but many GPs say they want to vaccinate their patients. [so] They do not get many vaccinations.

“It’s good that they do, but they won’t be able to do many people quickly.”

As part of the process, the patient should be monitored for 30 minutes after receiving the jab.

Professor Dackett said the GP clinic’s “second wave” is likely to be small. “But again, many people may not have the space to vaccinate quickly.”

And the third group is the GP that sets up an actual vaccine super clinic, for example in a parking lot.

“But if the majority of the GPs in the three lots just want to vaccinate their patients, they won’t reach one million a week.

“The logistics of this is huge.”

The pharmacist is also set to participate in Phase 2a of the rollout, which is flagged to start in May. The state of interest process has ended this week.

How about the variant?

The question of whether the COVID-19 vaccine can be adapted to viral variants has been highlighted again this week.

With the regular emergence of new variants, there is a new question as to whether the COVID-19 vaccine can catch up.

Early evidence suggests that it is not “unknown,” experts say, new mutants are likely to be covered by existing COVID-19 vaccines, especially mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer. However, experts say that some mutations can slightly reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine.

According to Tony Cunningham of the Westmead Institute, a vaccine expert for over 40 years, there are weekly “slightly different” studies of what they find.

“We don’t have enough data yet,” said Professor Cunningham.

“But if I’m talking to the general public about this issue, I think there are some strains in circulation that pose a risk to the current vaccine deployment.

“And they will probably need to be treated, but if they become widespread, a new generation of vaccines or boosters to treat these strains.

“But don’t worry. Scientists and vaccine makers say this can be done.”

Professor Cunningham said Australia had previously been protected from variants by the hotel’s quarantine system.

“And as long as you bottle the variant, that should be fine,” he said.

Oxford University is already working on a fine-tuned version of the AstraZeneca vaccine to take South African strains into account, with new versions planned in the coming months.