Australia to roll out virus vaccine from next week

The coronavirus vaccine roll out in Australia will begin in every state and territory on Monday, officials said Thursday.

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said that people over 80, health workers and quarantine staff would be given priority.

Thousands of aged care residents across 190 towns will start being inoculated from the beginning of next week under the Australian Government's program.

Frontline healthcare workers and quarantine and border staff will receive the jab through 16 different Pfizer hubs, run by the states and territories.

Earlier this week, the first batch of the Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Australia.

As the pandemic continues, a number of more infectious COVID-19 variants have emerged that threaten the success of the global vaccination campaign but Pfizer has said its COVID-19 vaccine is well-placed to respond to any future variants of the virus.

(Image Credit: AP)