Hello and welcome to your latest Covid Vaccination Hub Bulletin.
Our COVID-19 Vaccination Hub continues to do a fantastic job! Just under 300,000 vaccinations have now been recorded at sites across the Hub. See the graph below showing weekly activity of the Vaccination Hub.
Western Health as the COVID-19 Vaccination Hub for the western metropolitan region has already established a number of high-volume vaccination sites including Sunshine Hospital, the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (operated by RMH) and the Melbourne Showgrounds. Western Health also operates an outreach service at the Melbourne Airport two days a week.
An additional high volume site, occupying the disused Bunnings at Woodgrove in Melton, is currently being established. The high volume site is likely to open at the beginning of August.
To ensure the greatest coverage of the West Metro area we are commencing an additional outreach service in the Wyndham Civic Centre from next Thursday 15 July. The impact of vaccine supply from the Commonwealth means this will be an AstraZeneca only service in the short term.
A small volume of Pfizer has been released by the Department of Health to facilitate bookings for first doses to priority groups including:
- Health care workers (priority 1A/1B)
- All quarantine and border workers
- Household contacts of hotel quarantine workers
- Public residential aged care workers and residents
- All other residential aged and disability care workers and residents
Bookings can only be made by calling the DH hotline 1800 675 398
Please ensure you have your second dose of vaccine. You are not optimally protected against COVID-19 without 2 doses. This is more important than ever with episodes of outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta strain occurring within Australia. Please do not delay. For AstraZeneca vaccine you can get your second dose any time between 4-12 weeks (after 8 weeks preferred). For Pfizer, it is recommended you get your second dose at 3-6 weeks (close to 6 weeks is preferred).
A reminder that, in addition to the hotline 1800 675 398 you can book vaccinations through the online booking centre. Staff can also use their identification badges to walk in but use the quicker ‘appointment booked’ line at the Sunshine Hospital hub for second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Bookings are required for first and second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Check out the COVID-19 Vaccination microsite to keep up to date with everything relating to the COVID-19 vaccination.
Regards,
Lisa Smith
Project Director
West Metro COVID-19 Vaccination Program
Vaccination Activity
A weekly graph of vaccination activity across our Vaccination Hub has been developed and placed on the front page of the vaccination site. The latest graph shows that up to 4 July 2021, second vaccine doses have been provided to over 85,000 people.
In the Spot Light
The WH vaccination hub brand has been shown on international TV when Adam Hills showed his “australian vaccination record” when he returned to the UK for his show “The Last Leg”.
International recognition – go team!
Top 3 Questions
In this week’s Commonwealth Department of Health video, Professor Alison McMillan answers the following questions:
- I’m booked in for my first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and I am under 60, what do I do?
- I am 60 years or over, why is the AstraZeneca vaccine okay for me to have but not someone younger?
- I’ve had my first dose of AstraZeneca, and have side effects I am worried about, what should I do?