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SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday (February 21), calling the start of the nation’s vaccination program a “massive step” that will allow him to return to normal. .
Up to 4 million Australians are expected to be vaccinated in March, and Morrison among a small group will receive the first round of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
“This is the beginning of a huge game changer,” Morrison told reporters moments after receiving an injection at a medical center in Sydney. “Every day that passes from here becomes more normal. And that’s what’s exciting about today.”
The intergovernmental National Cabinet will review how its five-stage vaccination program will change the way the country manages the risk of coronavirus transmission in the future, including at its state and international borders.
Australian states have introduced some of the strictest community mobility restrictions in the world to control the spread of the virus, including intermittent city closures, curfews and border closures.
Reporting a second consecutive day of no coronavirus transmission in the community, the nation has had just under 29,000 infections and 909 deaths since March, ranking in the top 10 on a COVID-19 performance index.
READ: Australia says active COVID-19 cases are at a low of almost two months
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison punches a nurse on the elbow after receiving a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Castle Hill Medical Center in Sydney on February 21, 2021 (Photo: AFP / Steven Saphore).
Morrison said the vaccine addresses his “biggest fear” as prime minister: “Serious illness and the kind of widespread deaths we saw abroad.”
A small number of older Australians at Castle Hill Medical Center in western Sydney, elderly care staff members and nurses and frontline workers were also among the first to inject, authorities said.
Beginning Monday morning, a broader rollout of “phase 1-A” will begin among members of the elderly and disabled care staff, and quarantine and border protection workers at vaccination centers across the country. .
“Phase 1-B” vaccinations will follow for immunosuppressed people and those over 70, as well as for Indigenous Australians over 55 and emergency services workers.
The vast majority of the population will be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be produced locally, at the end of October.
On Saturday, thousands of people attended anti-vaccine rallies in major Australian cities to protest what they incorrectly believed to be mandatory vaccinations.
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