{"id":10819,"date":"2021-03-25T19:58:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T19:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=10819"},"modified":"2021-03-25T19:58:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T19:58:26","slug":"phase-1b-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-is-underway-indigenous-people-55-and-over-roll-up-your-sleeves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/03\/25\/phase-1b-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-is-underway-indigenous-people-55-and-over-roll-up-your-sleeves\/","title":{"rendered":"Phase 1B COVID-19 vaccine rollout is underway: indigenous people 55 and over, roll up your sleeves"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of this week around 87,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 or older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in phase 1B of the national rollout strategy.
\nMinister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP today made time to attend Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service to receive his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
\n\u201cWe have done a remarkable job so far in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, we cannot now become complacent,\u201d Minister Wyatt said. \u201cVaccines are an important tool in our strategy and I urge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to come forward and get vaccinated when they are able to. It will help protect themselves, their family and their community.\u201d
\nThere are 32 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services around the country who will begin providing COVID-19 vaccinations this week. The number of participating services and delivery sites will increase each week; building to around 100 services for around 300 sites in remote, rural and urban communities. People can also get their vaccination from general practices, commonwealth vaccination clinics (previously known as GP-led respiratory clinics). Pharmacies will begin vaccinations later in the rollout.
\nThe Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised the Australian Government to prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccination in Australia based on evidence on who would be most affected if they contracted COVID-19.
\n\u201cOur people have a higher risk of getting and developing serious outcomes from communicable diseases due to a number of factors including having a high rate of underlying chronic health conditions and in some cases crowded-living conditions, which increases the risk of transmission,\u201d Minister Wyatt said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s normal to have questions or concerns, and possibly feel hesitant about getting a vaccine. I encourage all of you to listen to your local community controlled health organisation as a trusted source\u201d he added.
\nThe Department of Health also provides evidence-based information about COVID-19 vaccines on\u00a0health.gov.au\/covid-19-vaccines-is-it-true<\/a>.
\nOne of the reasons Australia has been so successful in preventing COVID-19 in reaching remote and Indigenous communities and causing serious illness, like it has overseas, is the quick response and hard work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities, leaders and health services.
\nEvery Australian will have the opportunity to be vaccinated over the coming months and we thank every Australian for their patience. There are more than six million Australians in phase 1B, and not everyone will be able to be vaccinated immediately. No-one will miss out, whether they live in a city or country town or a very remote area.
\nTo see if you are eligible and find your local service to make an appointment, you can use the eligibility checker at\u00a0covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au\/eligibility<\/a>\u00a0or you can also contact your health service or general practitioner directly.
\nThe Australian Government continues working in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector and state and territory governments in all aspects of the National Response to COVID-19, including in the roll-out of the vaccine program to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia.
\nFor more:\u00a0https:\/\/www.health.gov.au\/initiatives-and-programs\/covid-19-vaccines\/getting-vaccinated-for-covid-19\/information-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples-about-covid-19-vaccines<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of this week around 87,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 or older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in phase 1B of the national rollout strategy. Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP today made time to attend Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service to receive … Continue reading “Phase 1B COVID-19 vaccine rollout is underway: indigenous people 55 and over, roll up your sleeves”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}