V Day! Vaccine rollout starts in Geelong

The first COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Geelong and across the state as the Austraklian roll-out of the potentially life-saving drug gets underway.

With frontline health workers, people living or working in aged care, and quarantine and border workers at the head of the queue, Barwon Health will provide the jab to around 100 of its staff today.

Deakin University Chair of Epidemniology, Professor Catherine Bennett, told Geelong Broadcasters the staged roll-out is designed to protect those who are most at risk.

"Having our front line workers protected protects the wider community, as well as protecting those people who are doing great work keeping us all safe," she said.

Residents and staff at nine nursing homes in Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula, the Surf Coast and Wyndham will also be among the first in the country to receive the first batch of Pfizer vaccines.

President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Professor John Wilson, urged people who do not fall into the first vaccination group to put their hands up as soon as the AstraZeneca shots become available.

"The most important thing for the Australian community to think about is getting the vaccine at the earliest available opportunity." Professor Wilson said.

Vaccine ads pulled from Facebook

The Morrison government has pulled Facebook advertisements designed to reassure Australians the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, as its spat with the social media behemoth continues.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has confirmed the government has removed Facebook from its list of advertising partners after the platform last week wiped the pages of all Australian news organisations.

The explosive dummy spit was prompted by the Australian government's introduction of a bargaining code that would force Facebook to pay for news.

The pages of health services, support groups and even some local councils were caught up in the Facebook tantrum. Some have since been restored.

Mr Hunt said information on the vaccine roll-out would still feature on its Facebook pages, but no money would be spent to expand the reach of those posts.

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