The government’s coronaviruses vaccines are still on track to be available in the next few weeks, but the vaccine is still not ready for use in the wider community, as the Government tries to get the last batch into schools.
The Government said the final batch of the coronaviral vaccine would be available for use at the start of the new academic year in September.
In a statement, the Department of Health said: “The final vaccines have not been approved for use on children or adults and will not be available at the beginning of the school year.”
A spokesperson for the Australian Health Practitioners Organisation (AHPO) said the vaccine was “in the early stages of approval”.
The final batch was made available at a price of AU$1,942 per dose and will be available to schools for the first time next year.
However, the spokesperson said it was unclear whether the vaccine would also be available on the streets.
“The Government has indicated that the final vaccines will be distributed on the street in the first half of next year,” she said.
“We do not have the final approvals to distribute these vaccines in the streets at the moment.”
The spokesperson said the vaccines had been distributed to hospitals in the states of Victoria and Queensland, as well as to the ACT and South Australia, but she would not be able to comment on the availability of those in NSW and Tasmania.
“There are a number of reasons why these vaccines are being distributed in different locations,” she added.
“In South Australia we have a lot of schools, and the school closures are happening across the state.” “
The AHPO said the Government would be releasing a statement later on Thursday to clarify whether the final batches of the vaccines would be made available to the public. “
In South Australia we have a lot of schools, and the school closures are happening across the state.”
The AHPO said the Government would be releasing a statement later on Thursday to clarify whether the final batches of the vaccines would be made available to the public.
“As the Government has said, there are a few things we don’t know about the final vaccine batches, and that is the availability for schools, how many schools will be covered by the vaccines, and whether the vaccines will continue to be made in batches or in batches and batches,” the spokesperson told New Scientist.
“This is an important step, and we’ll be releasing that statement later today.”
New Scientist has contacted the Health Minister for comment.
