COVID-19 Vaccination: Your Questions Answered

Australia has begun the process of vaccinating every adult against COVID-19. That’s a huge task. It involves immunising up to 20 million Australians with 2 doses of the COVID-19 vaccination (and, ideally, giving most of them the flu shot too) by the end of 2021. We’ll all need a lot of patience along the way!

What’s the plan for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout?

Australia is rolling out the vaccine in phases, starting with those at highest risk of encountering the virus or being severely affected by it.

Healthcare involves shared responsibilities across federal and state governments. When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccines, the Australian government takes charge of selection, purchase and regulation. Then each state government supervises the delivery of the vaccines to its population.

When and where can I get the COVID-19 vaccine?

That depends which group you’re in and on the supply of vaccines (expected to increase now Australia has begun its local production of the AstraZeneca vaccine).

    Phase
    Progress (as of April 2021)
    Eligibility
  


    1a
    Underway
    Quarantine, border and front-line health, aged care and disability staff and residents
  

    1b
    Underway
    Adults over 80
Adults aged 70-79
Other healthcare workers
Begin vaccinating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
Adults with a specified medical condition
Adults with a disability
Critical and high-risk workers including defence, police, fire, emergency services and meat processing
  

    2a
    Not yet started
    Adults age 60-69
Adults aged 50-59
Continue vaccinating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults
Other critical and high risk workers
  

    2b
    Not yet started
    Balance of the adult population
Anyone missed in previous rounds
  

    3
    Not yet started
    Under-16s if necessary
  

You can check your eligibility here. You’ll be asked a series of questions about your age, occupation and health. Then you’ll be told which group you’re in.

If the eligibility checker puts you in a group that’s able to receive the vaccine now, it’ll ask you for your postcode and bring up a list of local venues that offer the vaccination.

This is where it gets tricky though. While there may be a long list of places near you offering the vaccination, there are serious issues with supply. Many clinics are drip-fed small numbers of the vaccine each week and may not take bookings until they’re certain of their supply.

So, please be patient. You may have to wait and book later. You may book then have it rearranged.

Try not to phone your local clinic without checking their website or social media posts first. It’s much easier for clinics to provide information this way than to deal with hundreds of phone calls.

What does it cost to get the COVID-19 vaccine?

Nothing. The government is making the COVID-19 vaccine available free of charge.

Which vaccine will I get?

Australia’s drug regulation body, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), has approved two vaccines for use in Australia. Those are the Pfizer vaccine and the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine.

If you’re in group 1a, you’ll receive 2 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. This has 95% effectiveness but is tricky to administer because it needs special cold storage at -70℃.

People in every other group will receive an approved vaccine yet to be determined. Likely this will be a mixed supply of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Novavax. As you are likely aware, recommendations around best cohorts to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine has recently changed and this is being targeted at the over 50 aged groups, with the under 50’s slated to get an alternative, likely Pfizer.

What are the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination?

All vaccines can cause minor side effects. If you’ve ever had a flu jab, you may have experienced mild flu-like symptoms afterwards.

In a similar way, the COVID-19 vaccine may cause mild side effects such as a low-grade fever, a headache, and pain or swelling at the injection site.

When you have your jab, you’ll be asked to wait 15 minutes before going home. We do this with all vaccinations, just in case you experience any severe side effects, which tend to happen fairly quickly after the vaccination. They’re rare though. This is just a precaution.

Do I have to have the COVID-19 vaccination?

No-one can force you to have the COVID-19 vaccination if you really don’t want it.

As doctors, we strongly recommend that you do have this vaccination to protect yourself and the wider community from a highly contagious disease for which there is no treatment and which has now killed nearly 3 million people around the world.

Still unsure about having the COVID-19 vaccine? Read this.

How will the COVID-19 vaccine help me?

The COVID-19 vaccine teaches your immune system how to handle the disease if you ever encounter it again. The small amount of foreign material in the vaccine stimulates your immune system, provoking it to destroy the foreign material. Your body remembers that in case it needs to fight the same problem again.

The COVID-19 vaccine may prevent you from developing COVID-19. If you do still contract COVID-19, the vaccination will prevent severe symptoms and give you an easier time of it.

How can Peregian Family Medical Centre help?

We will be delivering COVID-19 vaccinations but not quite yet. We want to ensure all our systems are running smoothly and that we can rely on a predictable supply of vaccines so that we don’t have to rearrange appointments and inconvenience patients.

Please check our COVID-19 vaccination page for updates.

The COVID-19 vaccination really is a triumph of science. Rest assured, we’ll give you your jab as soon as we can.