Vaccination starts without rush in Australia, parts of Asia
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia started its COVID-19 inoculation program on Monday days after its neighbor New Zealand, with both governments deciding their pandemic experiences did not require the fast tracking of vaccine rollouts that occurred in many parts of the world.
Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region that have dealt relatively well with the pandemic either only recently started vaccinating or are about to, including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.
Catherine Bennett, an epidemiologist at Australia's Deakin University, said countries that do not face a virus crisis benefit from taking their time and learning from countries that have taken emergency vaccination measures such as the United States.
“We've now got data on pregnant women who are vaccinated. Natural accidents happen in a real world rollout," Bennett said. "All of those things are really valuable insights.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday in a show of confidence in the product. Australia is prioritizing building public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines ahead of speed of delivery.
Health and border control workers, and nursing home residents and workers started getting the Pfizer vaccine on Monday at hubs across the country. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt will get the AstraZeneca vaccine when it becomes available within weeks.
The vast majority of infections in Australia are travelers infected overseas who are detected during 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine. Australia has recorded 909 coronavirus deaths.
New Zealand began inoculations last week after receiving its first batch of the Pfizer vaccine.
The nation of 5 million has successfully stamped out the spread of the virus and the first people to get the...
