Australians have been asked to keep a two-week gap between the flu and COVID-19 vaccine, but that advice has now changed for some in aged care.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said Victorian residents in high-risk areas don't need to wait the two weeks after an outbreak in Victoria has prompted a state-wide lockdown.
He was advised the risk of not waiting "outweighed the risk of shortening that interval" when he sought specific advice about exempting those in aged care facilities after significant spread in a deadly wave of the virus last year.
"Those very few aged care facilities in Melbourne and Victoria that have not yet received one dose was mostly because they had the flu vaccine in the last couple of weeks and it was being delayed," Professor Kelly said today.
"I wrote to those facilities today to give my advice that should be changed for this specific event at this specific time.
"To be very clear, the general advice around Australia and outside of aged care is to keep the two-week gap."
The advice on wait time was established so if there's an adverse reaction, it's clear which vaccine caused the reaction.
Victorians rush to get vaccinated
This morning Victoria's COVID-19 vaccine hotline crashed, as the government announced all people aged 40 and over will be eligible for the jab as the state enters a seven-day lockdown.
The state has recorded an additional 11 new cases of COVID-19 overnight, bringing the current cluster to 26 cases. There are 34 active cases across the state.
Acting Premier James Merlino announced the lockdown today which restricts Victorians to only leaving home for five reasons, shopping for food and supplies, authorised work, care and caregiving, exercise and getting vaccinated.
From tomorrow, the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination program will expand to allow Victorians aged 40-49 years to receive the Pfizer vaccine at state-run vaccination sites.
This means more than half of all Victorians are now eligible to receive either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines.
Previously, only people aged over 50 and those in phase 1a and 1b of the vaccine rollout have been eligible.
Mr Merlino said a faster vaccine rollout across the country may have helped avoid the current situation.
"We also know that our nation's vaccine rollout has been slower than we'd hoped. And if more people were vaccinated, we might be facing a different set of circumstances. Sadly, we're not," he said.
"If we make the wrong choice now, if we wait too long, if we hesitate too much, this thing will get away from us. And lives will be at risk."
9News understands the acting premier expressed those sentiments in a conversation with Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning.
Those aged 40-49 can book an appointment to receive the vaccine by calling the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398 or online.
Immediately following the announcement, calls to the hotline were not going through due to a high volume of calls.
People were also told they could just turn up to get a vaccine at a hub.
