Australia to bring forward COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plans

SYDNEY: Australia will bring forward its COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plans by two weeks to early March, health authorities said on Wednesday (Jan 6), even as recent outbreaks in the country's two largest cities appeared to stabilise.

Australia has repeatedly resisted pressure to expedite its vaccination distribution timetable, citing low coronavirus cases in the country though new clusters in Sydney and Melbourne have sparked fears of a wider outbreak.

"As data and regulatory guidance have been provided, we have progressively been able to bring forward our provisional roll out from mid-year to the second quarter to late March and now early March," a spokesperson for Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

"We will continue to follow the safety and medical advice and will update our plans where new evidence or advice is available ... Our number one priority is safety," the spokesperson said in an emailed response to Reuters.

READ: Australian states reimpose travel restrictions to prevent spread of COVID-19 outbreaks

The government plans to complete a mass inoculation programme for its 25 million citizens by the end of this year. 

The vaccination campaign will begin with doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, officials said, while the AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be in use by March-end.

Australia has committed to buy 10 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech and 85 million from AstraZeneca as it aims to complete a mass inoculation programme by the end of this year.

The updated vaccine roll-out schedule was first reported by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

READ: Australia's COVID-19 cases on the rise as masks made compulsory

The United States, UK, Canada, the European Union and a handful of other countries have been inoculating people with COVID-19 vaccines since last month, with aims to bolster distribution as they struggle to contain the pandemic.

New South Wales state has recorded nearly 200 cases in recent outbreaks, mostly in Sydney, where some northern seaside suburbs are under a lockdown until Jan 9, while Victoria state has reported 28 cases in recent weeks. Both states reintroduced tougher restrictions on movement and made masks mandatory indoors to contain the spread of the virus.

Officials issued a new alert in Melbourne on Wednesday after discovering a subsequently infected man attended an international cricket match and shopped at a large mall over the Christmas holiday period.

Officials said the man was likely not infectious when he attended the Boxing Day test match between Australia and India, but called for 8,000 spectators in the same stand - the match capacity was 30,000 - to be tested to trace the source.

New South Wales officials have made masks mandatory for spectators at the third test match in Sydney starting on Thursday.

New South Wales reported four local cases on Wednesday, while Victoria added one to its tally. The virus has been effectively eliminated in other states and territories.

Australia has reported a total of just over 28,500 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths, with border closures and speedy tracking systems helping keep numbers relatively low.

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