Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that all Victorians aged between 16 – 39 years will now be eligible for the Pfizer vaccine at state-run vaccination centres as of 7am Wednesday 25 August.
This comes following on from PM Scott Morrison’s announcement on Thursday 19 August that all Australians aged 16 – 39 would be eligible for the Pfizer jab after 30 August, meaning younger Victorians are now eligible for Pfizer a few days ahead of schedule.
The change means that from Wednesday 25 August, anyone aged 18 to 59 will be eligible to receive either Pfizer or AstraZeneca – with people aged 16 to 17 able to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
Those aged 60 and over will continue to receive AstraZeneca.
Over the next four weeks, there will be over 830,000 appointments for Covid-19 vaccines at more than 55 state-run centres operating across Victoria – this includes 450,000 first dose appointments for the Pfizer vaccine.
Mr Andrews said that this new expansion would further help Victoria reach its goal of one million doses over five weeks.
“We’ve already delivered more than 230,000 doses towards our 1 million jabs target which is a mammoth effort,” Mr Andrews said at Tuesday morning’s press conference.
“But please, if you haven’t had your vaccination yet, just book it in today to protect yourself and your loved ones.”
With this new expansion, the number of Victorians eligible to receive Pfizer has increased by 2 million.
Approximately 1.7 million Victorians aged 16 to 59 have already been vaccinated across general practice, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, community pharmacy and state vaccination centres.
The expansion follows the supply of an additional 175,000 doses of Pfizer from the Commonwealth, recently received from overseas.
Anyone aged 18 to 39 who has a current booking for AstraZeneca from Wednesday 25 August who would prefer to receive Pfizer, will not need to cancel or change your booking – you will be offered Pfizer when you arrive for your appointment, unless you would prefer to receive AstraZeneca.
The change in eligibility will not occur until Wednesday 25 August and the additional bookings will be available online from 7am that morning.
However, with the number of Victorians aged 18 to 59 still far outweighing the Pfizer doses available from the commonwealth, the AstraZeneca vaccine will still be available for those who choose to provide consent and discuss their vaccination with a medical professional.
Daniel Andrews reiterated the message that the best vaccine you can get is the one that you can get today, and Minister for Health Martin Foley agreed.
“Getting vaccinated is our way out of this pandemic,” Mr Foley said.
“This outbreak has reminded us yet again that this virus doesn’t discriminate, not by age or profession. Now is the time to come forward and protect yourself and those you love.”
