The Australian Government COVID-19 Phase 1b vaccine rollout is likely to start in General Practices towards the end of March 2021. GP clinics will play an important role in the vaccination process.
The full vaccine roadmap has been made public. The aim is to vaccinate the most at risk populations first and then progressively work through the rest of the community.
Phase 1a will occur in hospitals for the most at risk workers.
Phase 1b is the first time the COVID-19 vaccine will reach the general population. Please see the image on the left for a summary of the groups who are eligible under phase 1b.
As a family practice we have a large number of elderly patients and those with chronic conditions that put them in the high risk group. We have been working through our database to create lists of those eligible and will start informing patients as soon as we know when our vaccines will arrive and how much vaccines we will receive.
We will simultaneously run a COVID-19 vaccine clinic and a Flu vaccine clinic. It is expected that the flu vaccine clinic will start in mid March but that depends on when we receive the vaccines. The COVID-19 and Flu vaccines need to be separated form each other by a minimum of 2 weeks. Those patients not eligible for COVID-19 vaccination will be able to have their flu vaccination. As such, they are able to serve the 2 week wait between COVID and Flu vaccinations.
Not all General Practices will run a Phase 1b clinic. HHMP intends to assist local General Practices and their patients to access the vaccine. If you are not a HHMP patient, please stay in touch with your usual local GP for more information as it becomes available.
Instead of calling our reception, please check this blog or our COVID-19 page often for the latest and most accurate information.
