Australia will stop using AstraZeneca COVID vaccines by October 2021, as most residents over 60 are planned to be fully vaccinated by then, Lieutenant General John Frewen, Coordinator General of Operation COVID Shield, said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th June, 2021) Australia will stop using AstraZeneca COVID vaccines by October 2021, as most residents over 60 are planned to be fully vaccinated by then, Lieutenant General John Frewen, Coordinator General of Operation COVID Shield, said on Wednesday.
According to the state vaccination plan, by the October-December period the use of AstraZeneca will decline, as people aged 60 and older, who are the only group to get AstraZeneca, will be fully vaccinated by that time. Later on, AstraZeneca will be distributed according to requirement of the states.
"The assumptions that are in the ranges there are that for all of those people and cohorts that AstraZeneca is preferred. We think they will have received their AstraZeneca before the fourth quarter. For any people who still do require AstraZeneca, we will have allocations available into the fourth quarter and we fully expected that there'll be adequate supply of AstraZeneca well into the fourth quarter," John Frewen said at a press conference.
Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommended Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines for those younger 60. The pace of Pfizer vaccination is expected to speed up.
The Department of Health reported that population has got about 7 million COVID vaccine injections so far, of whom 1 million residents have been fully vaccinated. Australia has so far logged over 30,000 infections and 910 deaths.
