A total of 6,590,741 vaccinations have been administered at more than 5,500 sites across the country. In the past week, 723,442 doses were administered.
As of today, 10,335,042 vaccine doses have been delivered to these sites by the Australian Government. This week, the Vaccine Operations Centre achieved a new record, distributing over 1.2 million doses in a single week.
This week, we have maintained our focus on supporting areas of the country currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and overcoming the effects of weather events, such as flooding and the power outages still being experienced in parts of Victoria.
The Vaccine Operations Centre is also making the necessary changes to operationalise the updated ATAGI advice, now making Pfizer preferred for everyone under 60 years of age. This includes:
- Supporting State and Commonwealth Vaccination Centres to open appointments to the 50-59 age Group,
- On-boarding additional general practices to administer the Pfizer vaccine, and ensuring each clinic receives the appropriate doses, and
- Ensuring the Eligibility checker reflects the updated advice and enables those aged 50-59 to locate a Pfizer clinic.
While these amendments do not change the objective of offering every eligible Australian access to a vaccine in 2021, it will mean some patience is required for 50 to 59 year olds seeking access to Pfizer first doses over the coming weeks.
Supplying and producing the vaccine
Last week, 298,350 doses of Pfizer and 721,100 doses of AstraZeneca were released for distribution.
Over the coming days, the Therapeutic Goods Administration will conduct sample testing of 298,350 doses of Pfizer vaccine, along with 676,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine produced onshore by CSL, prior to releasing the vaccines for distribution.
Distributing the vaccine
Last week was our largest week. With support from our Distribution Partners DHL and Linfox, more than 1,201,000 vaccine doses were delivered across Australia to metropolitan, rural and remote locations, along with 2538 deliveries of consumables.
- Additional doses for New South Wales. New South Wales will receive a one-off additional supply of 40,950 doses of Pfizer, to be delivered over the next three weeks.
- Ordering and Delivery. 99.7% of vaccine orders were completed last week with one order of Pfizer and seven orders of AstraZeneca to be finalised today.
- Australia's assistance to the Pacific. This week another 70,000 doses were made available for distribution to the Pacific, with more than 378,000 doses now provided to DFAT. This will help our friends across the Pacific, including Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
Administering the vaccine
This week, 723,442 doses were administered across the country, taking the total number of doses administered above 6 million, to 6,590,741. It took 47 days to reach our first million doses of vaccine administered and 10 days for the most recent.
An analysis of the data shows a very small weekday average increase of 500 doses per day compared to the previous week, now 140,000 per weekday, with the overall reduction in the weekly total due to the national public holiday. 48% of those aged 50 and over, as well as 65% of those aged 70 and over have now received at least one dose of vaccine.
In addition:
- Total sites. This week we had a total of 4,397 general practices, 136 Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics (CVCs - formerly GPRCs) and 158 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services delivering vaccines, along with 787 state and territory sites, taking the total number of vaccination sites across the country to 5,527. In the coming week, we will have more than 300 additional general practices administering AstraZeneca.
- Aged Care. With our vaccine workforce service providers, we continue to focus on those most at risk in our residential aged care facilities, and have now completed first dose visits to all 2,566 facilities (100%) and 2510 second dose visits (98%).
- Disability. We continue to ramp up our visits to disability residents with complex needs who require in-reach services. More than 10,000 people with a disability in a residential setting have now received at least one dose of vaccine.
About the Vaccine Operations Centre
