Health Minister Greg Hunt said this was just the beginning of the vaccination process.
“We begin the task of providing more hope and more protection to Australians going forward,” he told a press conference.
The focus of the first few weeks of the vaccine rollout will be the more than 183,000 residents at 2600 aged care homes,as well as residents of disability care homes and quarantine and border staff.
Frontline healthcare workers will also start receiving vaccinations,while the nation’s 339,000 aged care staff are expected to be vaccinated in the first six weeks of the rollout.
Health Department secretary Professor Brendan Murphy said thelack of community transmission meant Australia did not have to rush the rollout.
“It is OK to take four or five weeks to vaccinate all the aged care residents,” he said.