AstraZeneca jab approved for use in Australia

Australia has just approved the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has confirmed.

There are now two COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Australia.

More than 142,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Australia on Monday, ahead of the beginning of the national vaccine rollout next week.

Quarantine workers and frontline health workers will be the first to get the jab, along with aged and disability care staff and residents.

CSIRO’s Health and Biosecurity Director, Dr Rob Grenfell, says Australians shouldn’t be overly concerned about which vaccine they get.

“Both vaccines are very effective at stopping you from getting severe disease and ending up in hospital,” he said.

“There’s certainly nothing to fear about which one you get.”

While a poll from Red-Bridge reveals 17 per cent of Victorians say they won’t get the jab, Dr Grenfell says he expects that figure will fall soon.

“I think people will probably change their opinions once they realise the absence of any serious side effects that are occurring in the general population,” he said.

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