The Health Minister (pictured above) has promised that any vaccine will be available to those most vulnerable to contracting the virus before the wider population.
In a doorstop interview on Sunday, the Minister said Australia is close to securing two more sources for a coronavirus vaccine, which he expects will start being rolled out in 2021.
The Morrison Government currently has two contracts for vaccines – the Oxford-AstraZeneca for 33.8 million units and the University of Queensland-CSL for 51 million units.
“The results from both of those have actually been positive, more positive than we had expected,” he said. “We are now close to additional contracts and there are two further ones on the advice of the medical expert panel which are being pursued and which I am confident will be completed within the coming weeks if not earlier.”
The elderly, health care professionals and aged care workers will be prioritised for vaccination, with the aim to vaccinate every Australian who wants to be vaccinated over the next 12 months.
Of course, this does depend on an effective vaccine being developed.
Australia reached a new milestone on Sunday, with no new cases of community transmission reported for the first time since June – almost five months ago.
