Two nurses have become the first West Australians to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, saying they hope it will save lives and ease the strain on the healthcare system.
Hotel quarantine nurses Antonio Garza and Keita Winks each received the Pfizer jab at the Hyatt in Perth on Monday, marking the start of WA's rollout.
Describing it as quick and painless, they urged West Australians to get on board with getting vaccinated.
"We just had to go through all the paperwork, get checked off ... rolled up the sleeve, got the shot," Ms Garza told reporters.
"No different than any other vaccine.
"Vaccines save lives, reduces the burden on our healthcare system and our doctors and nurses. Us getting this done protects the vulnerable as well. There's so many positives to having it."
Quarantine and international border workers and high-risk frontline healthcare staff in aged and disability care are first in line to get the jab in WA.
About 570 hotel quarantine workers have booked in across Monday and Tuesday and the number is expected to grow to 1000 by the end of the week.
"I understand that people are afraid and are hesitant and there's a lot of misinformation about it that's making people afraid. But I'm all for it," Ms Winks said.
Premier Mark McGowan said he looked forward to the vaccine being rolled out across the state by the end of the year.
"When it's your turn to get the vaccine, please get the vaccine," he said.
"It's in your own interests, it's in the community's interest, it's especially in the interests of older West Australians so it's a great thing to do."
Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson said the first morning of the rollout had gone off without a hitch.
"We would strongly encourage all of our frontline workers who have been invited to register to receive the vaccine as soon as possible," he said.
WA Health communicable disease expert Paul Effler said the rollout would allow Australia to switch from defence to offence against the virus.
He said about 160 million people had already been inoculated in the United States and about 17 million in the United Kingdom.
"Both those countries have really good safety monitoring systems and we haven't seen an untoward safety signal," Dr Effler said.
"That's an enormous safety database so I think we can all feel reassured about that. Everything we're learning from an international perspective is positive."
