Thousands of young Australians will finally get the chance to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as New South Wales is set to roll out new Pfizer jabs across transmission hotspots in Sydney.
Anyone aged 16 and over will be eligible to book a priority vaccination appointment from Monday, if they work in authorised industries and live in one of nine government areas of concerns.
That means freight, distribution, delivery or bus drivers, as well as construction workers, meat workers, food workers and disability, health and aged care workers, will all be able to jump the Covid jab queue and get their first shot between August 16 and 22.
It comes as the federal government received an extra one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from Poland on Sunday night after striking up a deal with the Eastern European country.
Thousands of young Australians will finally get the chance to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as New South Wales is set to roll out new Pfizer jabs across transmission hotspots in Sydney. Pictured: Bondi Beach
The federal government received an extra one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from Poland on Sunday night after striking up a deal with the Eastern European country (stock image)
Am I eligible for the Pfizer shot?
Anyone aged 16 and over who works in essential services and lives in Sydney's areas of concern are eligible to get priority vaccination appointment.
You can book the jab online at NSW Government website.
WHAT ARE AREAS OF CONCERN?
- Eight LGAs: Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta
- Penrith suburbs: Caddens, Claremont Meadows, Colyton, Erskine Park, Kemps Creek, Kingswood, Mount Vernon, North St Marys, Orchard Hills, Oxley Park, St Clair and St Marys
WHO IS CLASSIFIED AS AUTHORISED WORKERS?
HEALTH CARE, AGED CARE AND DISABILITY CARE
- A person who provides health services within the meaning of the Health Services Act 1997 (whether or not in the public or private sector) or a registered health practitioner (each a 'health services provider')
- A person who provides ancillary or support services to the work of a 'health services provider' (as defined above) (including, for example, cleaners, cooks and security providers at hospitals)
- A person employed or engaged to provide services to persons with disability or vulnerable persons
- A person employed or engaged at a residential aged care facility
- A person employed or engaged by the Department of Communities and Justice to provide housing or homelessness services
- A community housing provider
- Staff working in chemists and pharmacies
CONSTRUCTION
- A person who works on a construction site in Greater Sydney
- A construction site is a place at which work, including related excavation, is being carried out to erect, demolish, extend or alter a building or structure, or at which civil works are being carried out, but not work carried out in relation to a dwelling in which a person is residing.
FREIGTH AND TRANSPORT
- Seaport and airport operations
- Freight, logistics, postal, courier or delivery services including food logistics, delivery and grocery fulfilment and delivery of building supplies to support construction but not including home and office removals
-Export supply chain operators
- Distribution of food, groceries and sanitary products for sale by supermarkets, grocery shops or other shops that predominantly sell food or drinks
- Road transport (passenger and freight) apart from taxi, rideshare and chauffeur services
MEAT WORKERS
- Workers at licensed meat processing businesses where they are directly involved in the manufacturing and distribution process, where the work is in a cold environment and where workers are unable to maintain distancing requirements.
Included: Abattoir workers, including attending veterinarians, Workers in boning rooms, smallgoods manufacturers, cold chain transport workforce, seafood processing, retail workers including butcher shops, fishmongers
FOOD WORKERS
- Production and manufacturing of food, beverages, groceries, cleaning and sanitary products
- Food processing and manufacturing
- A person employed or engaged to work for a retail premises specified below:
- Supermarkets and neighbourhood shops
- Shops that predominantly sell food or drinks
- Food and drink premises, but only as permitted under clause 24(1) of the Order
- Industrial or commercial food retailing
EDUCATION
- Education and schooling
- Early childhood education and care
NSW's desperate bid to ramp up vaccinations follows a record 465 coronavirus infections on Saturday and a further 415 cases on Sunday.
While the entire state is now in lockdown with transmissions spot fires flaring up in regional areas, Sydney's west remains the new epicentre of the outbreak after the virus spread from the eastern suburbs in June.
The Local Government areas deemed areas of concern by NSW Health include Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta and some suburbs of Penrith.
Young people who live in these areas are considered especially vulnerable when it comes to catching the virus.
They are also most likely to infect others because they are the most mobile age group.
In order to book the jab visit the NSW Government website, but be fast because the priority vaccine vaccination appointments will end on August 22.
Among the conditions is that you must book both doses at the same specially set up clinic.
So you will not be able to book your first dose at one clinic and then book the second dose at another.
The system will offer you a date for the second dose once you've chosen a date for the first one.
A young tradie receives a Covid vaccination at Macquarie Fields in Sydney on Sunday during a vaccine drive day aimed at construction workers
Anyone aged 16 and over will be eligible to book a priority vaccination appointment from Monday, if they work in authorised industries and live in the 12 local government areas of concerns. Pictured: A construction worker in Sydney
Australia has reached a significant milestone in its race to get vaccinated with 50 per cent of the adult population receiving their first dose.
Adding to the good news is that an extra million doses of Pfizer's Covid vaccine have arrived from Poland, Suring-up the mass-vaccinate Sydneysiders.
About 530,000 of the additional Pfizer doses will be used for adults in the 20-39 age group in the 12 key local government areas worst affected in Sydney.
The new doses are on their way to Australia after negotiations with the Eastern European country to take surplus doses off its hands.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the million doses were in addition to the 40 million Pfizer shots arriving in batches since the start of the year.
Australia has bought an extra million doses of Pfizer's Covid vaccine from Poland and will use them to mass-vaccinate Sydneysiders, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed
The boost comes as New South Wales recorded its darkest day since the Covid-19 pandemic began on Saturday with 466 new infections and another 415 reported on Sunday
'These 1 million doses of hope, which will give people right across the country, particularly in NSW,' he said.
'They are fighting this Delta strain in the most significant battle we have had in this country during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic up until now.
'This allocation of the doses is based directly on the advice that I have received from the Chief Medical Officer.
'This will give everyone aged 20-39 in the 12 LGAs the opportunity to be vaccinated.'
Pictured: Residents queue up for their dose of the Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine at the Homebush vaccination centre in Sydney on August 2, 2021
Mr Morrison said Doherty Institute modelling suggests the transmissibility of the virus can be addressed through these additional doses.
'The doses will be administered through the NSW Government system, and as I said, they are arriving late tonight, they will go through that process of delivery over the course of the next week,' he said on Sunday.
'Further doses will turn up over the course of this week, and the balance of the doses will be provided to the remaining states and territories on a per capita basis.'
About 175,000 of the vials will be sent to Victoria, where Melbourne is in its sixth lockdown with growing case number, including 25 on Sunday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the million doses were in addition to the 40 million Pfizer shots arriving in batches since the start of the year (pictured, a Year 12 student being vaccinated at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday)
A statement from the Polish Embassy in Canberra said the current crisis in NSW prompted the non-profit deal.
It said Poland recently offered to share vaccines mainly with low and middle-income countries, including its Eastern neighbours and Balkan countries.
'The decision to also add Australia to the list was taken against the backdrop of the current outbreak of Delta variant in the country,' it said.