Greg Hunt
Minister for Health and Aged Care, Member for Flinders
As part of the continued expansion of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout program, businesses are now able to team up with vaccination providers to administer the jabs to staff at their workplace.
Vaccination providers will be able to seek accreditation to administer COVID-19 vaccines at workplaces – similar to the way flu vaccines are administered – through a Request for Tender program that will kick-start Stage 3 of the National COVID Shield Campaign Plan.
Operation COVID Shield has been constantly engaging with the business community throughout the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and this program is a result of that engagement process.
The program will also facilitate acceleration of a range of other vaccine delivery methods, including additional support to vaccinate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other priority groups.
Pfizer or Moderna will be the primary vaccinations administered through the workplace vaccination programs, however workplaces will be able to order AstraZeneca if required.
Millions of Australians have already heeded the call to get vaccinated to protect themselves, their loved ones and the community, and the opening of this tender process will add further momentum as we continue to ramp up our vaccination effort.
With the potential to reach Australians at places they already go to every day, this program – the COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Partners Program – will make it even easier for people to get vaccinated, while recognising the eagerness of businesses to help.
It will allow Australia to further increase the overall size of the COVID-19 vaccination workforce, and to use the many offers of assistance from vaccination administrators and Australia’s business community.
The Vaccine Administration Partners Program will establish a panel of accredited COVID-19 vaccination providers that can be accessed by government entities, businesses and other organisations to support vaccination priorities.
The Australian Government will pay accredited COVID-19 vaccination providers on the panel a fixed price per vaccine dose.
Businesses engaging COVID-19 immunisation providers from the panel will negotiate details of the arrangements directly with vaccination providers on the panel.
As with the broader vaccine rollout, businesses cannot seek any payment from patients for administration of the vaccine.
Full details are available on AusTender.