Frontline health and quarantine workers will be first in line to receive the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, when the jab starts to roll out in WA next week.

The first 5000 doses will land on Sunday and deliveries will ramp up over coming weeks and months.

Medical coordinator at the Communicable Disease Control Directorate at WA Health, Dr Paul Effler, told 6PR’s Gareth Parker the rollout has provided some logistical challenges.

“You have to keep it super cold, minus 70 degrees before you thaw it out and use it, so it’s a new challenge for us.”

Hotel quarantine workers will be among the first to get the jab.

“These are the frontline workers, and they should be at the front of the line for the vaccine,” Dr Effler said.

“They have sacrificed and dealt with a little bit more risk than the rest of us.”

The vaccine will not be mandatory, but Dr Effler expects most frontline workers will take the option up.

“The greatest risk of acquiring COVID really was among people who work in hotels,” he said.

“People who are eligible for the vaccine in those groups get a notification via email, and it invites them to go onto a booking system.”

It’s expected everyone who wants the vaccine should get it by October.

Click play to hear the full interview. 

(Photo: iStock by Getty Images.)