Vaccination in regional Australia

Details about how a COVID-19 vaccine will roll out in regional Australia are surfacing, but there are still some concerns about the logistics.

The distribution of vaccines

It will begin with quarantine and border workers, priority frontline healthcare workers, as well as aged and disability care staff and residents.

But the president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, John Hall, said there were likely to be some differences depending on where you lived.

Dr Hall said vaccine hubs would be rolled out across the country, stocked with the necessary equipment and freezer capability to disperse the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which needed to be stored at minus-70 degrees Celsius.

But he said limitations with cold storage in some communities meant remote Australians were likely to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine is the one that doesn’t require minus 70 degrees storage,” Dr Hall said.

“That’s the one that can be delivered anywhere in Australia, can be managed through any general practice and pharmacy, and will likely be the vaccine that most rural and regional Australians get.”

GPs likely to lead rollouts

The vaccine will also be administered in 153 GP-led respiratory clinics across the country, which were initially funded by the Federal Government to provide COVID-19 testing when the pandemic first began.

In smaller towns, with no easy access to those clinics, the vaccine will likely be administered by local GPs.

Dr Hall said that, despite the challenges, he was confident the Government’s phased vaccination plan to prioritise vulnerable Australians and frontline workers would be able to reach rural and isolated communities.

“I’m confident that the Government’s got the measures in place at the moment to make sure that it happens for everyone.”