Six million Australians can book an appointment for their COVID-19 vaccine, with the rollout of Phase 1B due to begin on Monday.

Under Phase 1B, adults aged over 70, those with underlying health issues, First Nations people aged over 55 and health care workers not already included in previous vaccine rollouts will be eligible to receive the vaccine.

People can use the Federal Government’s vaccine eligibility checker to find out which phase they are in and how to book an appointment at their nearest clinic. Nearly 90 of the clinics are based in WA.

Speaking with Oliver Peterson, Professor Paul Effler from WA Department of Health recognises there is frustration at the moment with trying to get an appointment but urged people to be patient.

“We have about 60,000 [vaccines] coming into the state… but that’ll go pretty quickly.”

“I’d urge everyone to have patience to know that Australia has acquired enough vaccine.

“Everyone will get an opportunity to get vaccinated.”

Recipients of the jab in this phase will most likely receive the AstraZeneca vaccine given the Pfizer one has strict “cold-chain requirements.”

“That’s been restricted to hubs that can handle that,” said Professor Effler.

“The AstraZeneca one can be managed like all our other vaccines in a regular refrigerator temperature, so we can put that out to many more sites.”

While this roll out involves using imported doses, millions of locally produced doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine should be available in the next month.

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