(REUTERS): Australia today (Monday) began its mass COVID-19 vaccine campaign with frontline healthcare staff and senior citizens getting the first doses.
“Today is a real milestone in our collective response to tackle COVID-19 and bring things as rapidly under control as we can,” Acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told the local news channel.
The vaccine, jointly developed by Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech, will be rolled out in the initial weeks while AstraZeneca’s first batch is expected to reach the country in the next two weeks.
The vast majority of Australia’s 25 million population will be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine, while authorities have planned to inoculate four million by March and expect to finish vaccinations by the end of October.
Earlier on Sunday, a group of 20 people including Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first shots of the vaccine. Victoria, the country’s second-most populous state, on Monday reported no new cases for the third day in a row. Other states and territories have effectively eliminated the virus.
