McCORMACK WELCOMES INITIAL VACCINE ROLL-OUT AT WAGGA WAGGA

Residents in Wagga Wagga will be amongst the first in Australia to receive a COVID-19 vaccination as part of 134 rural and regional aged care facilities to receive the vaccine for administration.

Riverina MP and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the Federal Government was committed to delivering the COVID-19 vaccine to all Australians, regardless of where they live.

“This is one of the largest logistical undertakings this country has ever undertaken,” Mr McCormack said.

“Our vaccination roll-out is a staged program which prioritises those who are most at risk and who need protection the most – those in our aged care facilities and our frontline workers.

“The Government has worked diligently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure Australians have access to safe and effective vaccines.

“And, as we always have throughout the pandemic, we will take the best medical advice and will continue to do so as this important next step to fight COVID-19 is under way.

“We want and need to get Australia back to some sort of pre-COVID normality and we can all do this together through this vaccination program.

“This week, some of our most essential workers and vulnerable Australians in the Wagga Wagga region will be vaccinated, with more of our community to follow in the coming weeks and months.

“The initial priority groups will include aged care and disability care residents and workers, frontline healthcare workers and quarantine and border workers.

“More sites will be announced in coming weeks which will include more rural and regional locations, including GP-led Respiratory Clinics, GPs, community pharmacies and State-based vaccination clinics throughout the Riverina and Central West.”

The roll-out will begin with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and, following the recent approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, will include the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine from early March.

“This vaccination program will save lives. I encourage Australians to get the jab not just for their own sake but for those people who have loved ones, those in around their families and also people unknown to them – that stranger they might bump into and particularly the elderly Australian. They owe it to them to get the vaccine. They owe it to them to do their bit for Australia,” Mr McCormack said.

“I will continue to work closely with the New South Wales Government and key stakeholders to ensure Riverina and Central West communities continue to be informed about the roll-out.”

These stakeholders will be particularly important as the Commonwealth, together with the New South Wales Government, establish the Remote Vaccine Working Group to support the newly established Vaccine Program Principal Committee.

Frontline healthcare workers and quarantine and border workers will receive the vaccine through Pfizer hubs run by states and territories. In addition, a Commonwealth-led in-reach vaccination workforce will ensure residential aged care and disability care residents and staff receive their vaccines.

Vaccines will be available across additional settings, including GP clinic and community pharmacies. The staged roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines is guided by Australia’s COVID-19 Vaccine National Rollout Strategy.

The aim of the vaccination program is to save and protect lives, to keep people out of intensive care and off ventilators. Both vaccines approved for use in Australia do that very well.

Protecting people from serious illness is, and must, be the priority.

Find out more about the rollout and priority groups at: www.aus.gov.au