Pfizer Will Be Open To Victorians Aged 16-59 Tomorrow But There’s Not Enough For Everyone

In big news for shrinking the list of ‘valid reasons not to get vaccinated yet’, all Victorians aged 16 to 59 will be able to get the Pfizer jab from 7am tomorrow morning. And if you already have an AstraZeneca jab booked in (like the cool, responsibly-minded citizen you are), then PLEASE do not cancel your booking. You’ll be offered Pfizer when you show up for your first dose.

Premier Dan Andrews announced the changes on Tuesday morning, pointing to the extra supply of Pfizer vaccines from Poland as the reason why.

“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 to those who choose to provide consent and discuss their vaccination with a medical professional,” Andrews said.

“The best vaccine you can get is the one that you can get today.”

Basically: Victorians aged 18 to 59 will be able to get Pfizer or AstraZeneca, while those aged 16 and 17 will only be able to get Pfizer.

The change in eligibility will not occur until Wednesday 25th August at 7am.

Over the next month, there will be more than 830,000 vaccination appointments across the state’s 55 vaccination centres, which includes some 450,000 first doses of Pfizer, Andrews said.

“With this expansion, the number of Victorians eligible to receive Pfizer has increased by two million. Approximately 1.7 million Victorians aged 16 to 59 have already been vaccinated across general practice, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, community pharmacies and state run vaccination centres,” he added.

According to the latest federal Health Department figures, 51.2% of Victorians have received their first dose, and 30.1% are fully vaccinated. We love to see it!

And while young people have been turning out in record numbers to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, it’s understandable that some people might still be hesitant – so allow us to put your minds at ease.

According to the Doherty Institute (ya know, the people behind the modelling of reopening Australia in stages as we hit 70% and 80% fully vaccinated), both vaccines have similar effectiveness rates against the Delta variant after the second dose.

We’ve also put together a Q&A (from an infectious diseases expert) on all your most burning questions on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which you can have a squiz of here. And if you want to find out how to get vaccinated right now, use our easy, step-by-step guide here.

All adult Aussies (yep, even if those of us under 40) are currently able to get the safe and effective AstraZeneca vaccine through a GP. Click here to see which clinics are offering it, and talk to a doctor to see if it’s right for you.

Alternatively, you can triple-check to see if you’re eligible for the Pfizer vaccine here.

The best vaccine is the first one you can get, and that’ll be our ticket out of this mess.

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