A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval was the “critical next step” in the vaccine rollout and secures Australia’s access to 50 million doses of CSL’s Australian made Astra Zeneca vaccine.“It is the fundamental approval which allows Australia to proceed with our national vaccination strategy based on 50 million doses of Australian made vaccines,” he said.“In addition each batch has to be individually tested, with the first batches expected to be approved and released in the coming days.”The spokesman said more than 250,000 doses from offshore supplies have been distributed for the general public as part of the Phase 1B program commencing Monday.NSW FLOODS TO CAUSE VACCINE DELAYSMore than six million Aussies will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine when the roll out of Phase 1B starts tomorrow.Anyone over 70, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over 55, other health care workers, younger people with underlying health conditions and critical and high risk workers such as emergency services and police will be offered the AstraZeneca vaccine.After this phase is finished, phase 2A will offer the vaccine to those aged 50-69, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people aged 18-54 and other high risk workers. Phase 2B will be the remaining population.But the timing of these later phases is hard to predict. Phase 1B is expected to take three months — and that is assuming no delay in vaccine supply from Europe.1B vaccine rolloutAnd the rollout has been impacted by the NSW floods, with delays expected as towns are cut off by the floodwaters.An extra 100 respiratory clinics have been enlisted to help doctors with the rollout and online bookings have been swamped with almost a million people logging on to the government site.Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said that was an indication of vaccine confidence. “We have been heartened by the early response that we’ve seen from the public this week,” he said. “It shows that Australians do want to be vaccinated, they want to do their part to help get us back to a COVID normal, while also protecting themselves and their loved ones.”Dr Karen Price from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said Friday’s round table with Prime Minister Scott Morrison “acknowledged the pain and suffering general practice had been through” to get the rollout going.“He made some commitments to developing a better forward estimate, to guarantee 12 weeks supply ahead so we can match out bookings to supply,” Dr Price said. Over the coming months, more than 4000 locations will be offering the vaccine and Mr Hunt asked for patience. “This is a marathon, not a sprint,” he said. Phase 1B will involve as many as six million people and will begin with a release of 250,000 doses next week for the general public. At Dr Brian Morton’s Northbridge Medical Practice, the phone has been ringing off the hook.The practice has acknowledged that many elderly simply do not have access to computers to book online through the federal Government website.“We have been ringing our elderly because we figured they couldn’t book on the website so we had a system of ringing them or giving them a letter in the waiting room,” Dr Morton said. “They can only come with an appointment.“Our poor staff at the front desk have been inundated and we had one of our younger receptionist in tears because of the rudeness of one of the people who rang.”On Friday over 400 shots were delivered to the practice. To check eligibility go to www.health.gov.au
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