CANBERRA, Feb 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australia’s first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines is set to arrive in the country within days.
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, said, about 80,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would arrive in Australia “before the end of the week, if not earlier.”
“Because this is the most precious of cargoes, we are being cautious with our details in a highly competitive global world,” he told reporters.
Australia acquired 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which remains the only vaccine to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
Hunt said, the TGA would conduct safety checks on the vaccines upon arrival, and that Australia remained on track to begin administering vaccines to priority groups at the end of this month.
“The TGA will ensure that the numbers are correct, that they, in particular, haven’t had any inflight actions that damage quality, such as, a loss of temperature,” he said.
Under the planned rollout, the government aims to have every Australian, who wants a vaccine, inoculated by Oct.
However, Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, conceded that the rollout would not “go flawlessly,” while recently touring a vaccine storage facility, according to The Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
As of yesterday afternoon, there were 28,898 confirmed cases in Australia, and the number of locally and overseas acquired cases in the last 24 hours were two and four respectively, according to the latest figures, updated last night, from the Department of Health.– NNN-AGENCIES
