The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[lovetravellingoz]

Well my daughter who works in a Respiratory and Infectious Diseases Ward finally has been scheduled for her first vaccination tomorrow. A little surprised given her work that it took so long as her ward had Covid Patients and SCOVIDS are all part of the daily process for such a ward. Still there are a lot of eligible people and doses were limited till about now when availability should start ramping up.


Very delighted wife attended her first choir rehearsal for over a year last night (Choir is now running again). One of the ladies there , in her 80's, had just been vaccinated as a doctor she knows offered her a vaccination as he had some doses that would have gone to waste otherwise. So it was nice to hear of a small example of doses being maximised.

 

[RooFlyer]

I wasn't aware that HotDoc (the one my GP uses) was taking covid vaccination appointments. I registered for HealthEngine a week or so ago when mentioned on AFF but it brought up no appointments in Tasmania when I looked last week.

Just looked at HotDoc and it had 2 places within my easy reach for appointments bookable through the app. One of which was a clinic I'm already got an appointment in, booked by phone.

So, after the first day or two where it was a bit ragged, phase 1b seems to be going OK, given the limited vaccine supplies, until CSL locally starts delivering their supplies. The sky still hasn't fallen ...

 

[Pushka]

I wasn't aware that HotDoc (the one my GP uses) was taking covid vaccination appointments. I registered for HealthEngine a week or so ago when mentioned on AFF but it brought up no appointments in Tasmania when I looked last week.

Just looked at HotDoc and it had 2 places within my easy reach for appointments bookable through the app. One of which was a clinic I'm already got an appointment in, booked by phone.

So, after the first day or two where it was a bit ragged, phase 1b seems to be going OK, given the limited vaccine supplies, until CSL locally starts delivering their supplies. The sky still hasn't fallen ...

Health engine was supposed to be the Govt appointed one so not sure how hotdoc came into the scene. Maybe it's those doctors rebelling?

 

[drron]

Yes some of the corporate owned medical centres normally use hotdoc so was easy for them to use it for vaccination appointments as well.

 

[Pushka]

Interesting video and read of Australia's CSL AZ vaccine production.

How CSL plans to make a million COVID-19 vaccines a week

When millions of Australians roll up their sleeve to get a locally made vaccine, the shot itself may only take a couple of seconds, but it will have been three months in the making. This is how it's done.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Lynda2475]

NSW Premier confirmed today that every quarantine worker in the state has "at least had the first shot" of the Pfizer vaccine and reconfirmed that the state has been moving in to vaccinate the families of the quarantine workers, in addition to frontline health workers. Ive not seen other states doing familiy members yet. Results is most restrictions removed from Momday 29th.

 

[OZDUCK]

The commencement of supply of the 'local' AstraZeneca seems especially timely as the EU appears to be taking more steps to restrict the exportation of vaccine.

E.U. Will Curb Covid Vaccine Exports for 6 Weeks (Published 2021)

The European Union presented new emergency rules that will most likely severely cut exports to Britain and other countries to ease supply shortages at home.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Gremlin]

NSW Premier confirmed today that every quarantine worker in the state has "at least had the first shot" of the Pfizer vaccine and reconfirmed that the state has been moving in to vaccinate the families of the quarantine workers, in addition to frontline health workers. Ive not seen other states doing familiy members yet. Results is most restrictions removed from Momday 29th.

Several other states are already inoculating family members and have been doing so for a couple of weeks now.

In some states certain family members have been prioritised ahead of some quarantine workers - eg, very high risk family members of quarantine workers in some states were being inoculated ahead of 'back of hotel' staff. In other states all HQ staff were done prior to family members.

Good to see NSW finally moving to the same level of freedoms most of us (Vic excluded) have enjoyed for a while now. One more step on the road back to normality.

 

[Must...Fly!]

The commencement of supply of the 'local' AstraZeneca seems especially timely as the EU appears to be taking more steps to restrict the exportation of vaccine.

E.U. Will Curb Covid Vaccine Exports for 6 Weeks (Published 2021)

The European Union presented new emergency rules that will most likely severely cut exports to Britain and other countries to ease supply shortages at home.

www.nytimes.com

Indeed. Federal government has copped plenty of flack (and rightly so) through this but deserve a lot of credit for committing money to CSL to manufacture the shot on shore.

Obviously some risk as the vaccine may not have been a success. But I think it's fair to say that the vaccine is (so far at least) extremely protective and there is every chance that we could export some doses to other countries and make some money back, in time. Or at least help our less fortunate pacific neighbours and PNG

 

[Lynda2475]

NsW has been doing those household members since week 1, it was just mentioned again today. Not new info.

Im still looking for where other states have said they are also doing this - do you have a source? Ive been unable to find anything in press

 

[stryker]

My GP is not currently doing Covid vaccinations, so I have booked an appointment (using Hotdoc) at another clinic, who have asked me to get a "Health Summary" from my current GP. I'm eligible for the Covid jab because of my age.

Has anyone else been asked to get one of these when attending a GP other than their own for the Covid jab?

 

[drron]

My GP is not currently doing Covid vaccinations, so I have booked an appointment (using Hotdoc) at another clinic, who have asked me to get a "Health Summary" from my current GP. I'm eligible for the Covid jab because of my age.

Has anyone else been asked to get one of these when attending a GP other than their own for the Covid jab?

Yes but they don't need one and won't get one.But then i do know one of the docs at the centre we are having our jabs at.
And my GP is also not taking part in the covid vaccinations.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Several other states are already inoculating family members and have been doing so for a couple of weeks now.

In some states certain family members have been prioritised ahead of some quarantine workers - eg, very high risk family members of quarantine workers in some states were being inoculated ahead of 'back of hotel' staff. In other states all HQ staff were done prior to family members.

Good to see NSW finally moving to the same level of freedoms most of us (Vic excluded) have enjoyed for a while now. One more step on the road back to normality.

Yes I saw a similar bit of news on my mobile with respect Vic when I was away offgrid camping a week ago.

And as of 22 March when 1b kicked off, and announced earlier, any household member of a quarantine or border force worker can book themselves in for a vaccination as they are all classed as 1b in the Australian Government's Vaccination Program. For Pfizer Hubs they need to be arranged by the jurisdication.

https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/03/priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination-program-phase-1b_1.pdf

 

[Pushka]

My GP is not currently doing Covid vaccinations, so I have booked an appointment (using Hotdoc) at another clinic, who have asked me to get a "Health Summary" from my current GP. I'm eligible for the Covid jab because of my age.

Has anyone else been asked to get one of these when attending a GP other than their own for the Covid jab?

Yes I was asked and especially if doing it for health reasons. Do you have a My Health account set up? My GP loaded everything onto it. However, if doing it for anything but health then I'd say it's not relevant.

 

[RooFlyer]

Has anyone else been asked to get one of these when attending a GP other than their own for the Covid jab?

Yes, I'm in 1b because of underlying heath condition and attending a GP clinic not my own and they asked for it. I'm pretty sure I could fill in a declaration re my health status, or provide some other documentation, but I had a telehealth consult with my GP anyway today, so asked for the health summary. GP said they had such set up on their system and he'd e-mail it to me.

 

[Gremlin]

NsW has been doing those household members since week 1, it was just mentioned again today. Not new info.

Im still looking for where other states have said they are also doing this - do you have a source? Ive been unable to find anything in press

I'm dealing with a number of people in the various Depts of Health around the country. Each state has a slightly different approach to this group.

Several states "pre-traced" HQ workers. What that means is that during times when the virus was under control within that state the contact tracers traced close contacts of HQ workers. They did this in order to fast-track tracing if an outbreak occurred that involved that particular HQ worker. What that means is that several states have a database of all family members of HQ staff and are proactively contacting them about their vaccine.

NSW backed their ability to contact trace in a timely manner and didn't pre-trace. But what that means now that they are rolling out the vaccine to this group is that they don't necessarily know who they are, nor their medical preconditions, etc. There are some comms directly thru HQ staff, but they are also needing to get the message out more broadly for a variety of reasons. Hence, there's a lot more comms going out in NSW about inoculating HQ family members than you'll see in other states who are just getting in and doing it.

 

[stryker]

Yes I was asked and especially if doing it for health reasons. Do you have a My Health account set up? My GP loaded everything onto it. However, if doing it for anything but health then I'd say it's not relevant.

My GP was reluctant to provide a health summary, saying that it shouldn't be necessary, as all the vaccinating clinic should need are confirmation of my age, identity and medicare details. I feel that the process really should be more seamless and less stressful on the individual, rather than having to run around trying to reconcile the views of different medical practices.

Surely it would have been easier and more efficient to co-opt the States into providing vaccination services, using public hospitals, vaccination centres, etc.

 

[Pushka]

My GP was reluctant to provide a health summary, saying that it shouldn't be necessary, as all the vaccinating clinic should need are confirmation of my age, identity and medicare details. I feel that the process really should be more seamless and less stressful on the individual, rather than having to run around trying to reconcile the views of different medical practices.

Surely it would have been easier and more efficient to co-opt the States into providing vaccination services, using public hospitals, vaccination centres, etc.

Agree but it’s the first week of the major rollout and everyone is a bit unsure of things. As they say, unprecedented times. And some GP’s can be very reluctant to share things I’ve found.

 

[RooFlyer]

My GP was reluctant to provide a health summary, saying that it shouldn't be necessary, as all the vaccinating clinic should need are confirmation of my age, identity and medicare details.

If you were trying to get into phase 1b because of an underlying health condition, not the age, or other conditions, you would have to provide evidence that you qualify for phase 1b – such as a statement from GP. You should be able to make a declaration but I decided to get a GP statement because I was talking to him anyway.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Some GPs would be reluctant due to business reasons, which one can understand. All of this stuff takes time for them, and the competition that has entered the industry (perhaps innovation another word) creates some issues. But at the same time, I think the vast majority understand.

Many would be in clinics that are getting very few doses of the vaccine, at least for now - so the reality of the situation would not be lost on them, particularly when some GPs themselves would be making appointments at the federal respiratory clinics to get vaccinated before their own surgeries get supply.