By Juliano Oliveira
Queenslanders looking forward to receiving their COVID-19 vaccine will have to be patient and perhaps get the first jab only in October or November, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has informed.
As of date, more than 92,000 vaccines had been administered by Queensland Health. Ms Palaszczuk said the number of registrations for the Pfizer vaccine in the state is approximately 140,000.
“What I just want to say to those people out there is you will be given a booking, but the booking may not be until October or November because that’s when all the supply comes in from the federal government. So I need everyone to be patient,” she said.
“If we do get extra supply in, Queensland Health will contact you and will be able to move your appointment forward.”
On Sunday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, announced that selected general practices across Australia would also start to offer the Pfizer vaccine to their eligible patients, including those aged from 40 to 59 years of age.
“This week, 500 general practices will start to have the Pfizer vaccine available, and I’m told that nearly 40 per cent of these practices are in rural areas in the country,” Professor Kidd said.
“And during this month, another 800 general practices will come online with the Pfizer vaccine as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine. This includes many Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, which will be offering the Pfizer vaccine progressively through July and August.”
In Queensland, 230 GP clinics will provide the Pfizer vaccine to people aged 40 to 49 and those in the 1A and 1B priority groups.
According to the Queensland Health website, the following people are eligible for each vaccine.
Pfizer:
- Any adult aged 40— 59 years
- All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 16 to 59
- People aged 16 and over with a specific underlying medical condition
- NDIS participants, their carers and support workers (16 and over)
- Any worker 16 or older in aged care and disability, healthcare, quarantine and borders, critical and high-risk workers, including those in meat processing
- Household contacts of quarantine workers, border workers and healthcare workers at higher risk of contact with COVID-positive patients, regardless of age
AstraZeneca:
- People aged 60 and older, unless they have a GP referral
- Anyone who has already received one dose of AstraZeneca without a serious adverse event