Torres Strait COVID-19 vaccine program won’t resume until mid-May

The COVID-19 mass vaccination rollout in the Torres Strait is not expected to resume until mid-May.

Local health authorities are scrambling to work through changed health advice for administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under the age of 50.

More than 800 Torres Strait residents, considered to be particularly vulnerable to coronavirus due to their close proximity to Papua New Guinea, have already received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

There has been a surge of COVID-19 infections and a spate of deaths in PNG in recent weeks.

Queensland Health said they had suspended the program in Torres…