A shipment of Pfizer vaccine doses destined for South Australia has been wrongly delivered to Western Australia, causing delays to the state’s rollout.
Key points:
- A shipment of Pfizer vaccines intended for Adelaide has been wrongly sent to Perth
- The mistake will delay the rollout of the vaccine in SA
- Aged care facilities were told scheduled immunisations would not be happening today
The ABC understands aged care facilities involved in the phase 1A rollout were told by the federal Department of Health that COVID–19 immunisations would not be happening today as scheduled.
Impacted care homes were originally told the delay was the result of a “logistics issue”.
The ABC has been told the issue that caused the setback was that a shipment bound for Adelaide was incorrectly delivered to Perth.
It is not clear how many vaccines were included in the shipment, but some were expected to be second-round doses for aged care residents.
Transport and logistics company DHL holds a Federal Government contract for the storage and shipment of Pfizer vaccines, which require storage below -70 degrees Celsius.
DHL, the Department of Health and Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt have been contacted for comment.
ABC News: Alison Xiao
)South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said he did not “know anything about [the] shipment”.
“The logistics, the procurement, and the approval and distribution of the vaccines is the responsibility of the Federal Government,” Mr Marshall said.
“We are doing work in terms of the administration of those doses.
“I don’t have any information on that particular shipment, but the good news is in South Australia we have access to both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca [vaccines].”
An SA Health spokeswoman said the State Government’s delivery of vaccinations for healthcare and quarantine workers would not be affected.
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