SA Health issues tender for mass COVID vaccination program

SA Health is looking to set up “mass” COVID vaccination hubs – but has given potential providers just days to respond.

SA Health has released a tender for mass vaccination programs to cope with the flood in demand for COVID jabs – but has given interested providers just five days to respond.

An expression of interest for the tender released on Saturday must be in by Thursday at 2pm and the contract will be awarded five days later.

The documents states that: “key objectives of SA Health include understanding respondent capacity to accelerate scale-up with short lead times and commence mass volume vaccinations.”

The tender asks for services including:

BOOKING and IT services for some mass sites;

MOBILE private vaccination services for groups such as emergency workers;

PRIVATE vaccination services on Kangaroo Island “due to a lack of GP presence on the Island”; and

PRIVATE vaccination services for remote areas operating seven days a week.

These services would require: “Exceptional clinical delivery model with proven expertise in all aspects of large-scale vaccination programs,” the documents state.

Neville Pearson receives the Astrazeneca vaccine from Dr Daniel Byrne at Adelaide’s Chandlers Hill Surgery. Picture: Mike Burton

It gives an example of “workplace on-site clinics to safely vaccinate up to 4000 emergency service personnel over a 6 – 8 week period. Sites may be potentially north, south and central metropolitan Adelaide.”

The proposed KI clinic would run 10 hours a day, six days a week to help vaccinate 3500 permanent residents, delivering up to five vaccinations per hour.

SA Health deputy chief public health officer Dr Emily Kirkpatrick said officials are still exploring the use of large-scale clinics and that they may be “key” in rolling the vaccine out to large numbers of people – there are 600,000 South Australians eligible for in the phase 1B program, which started on Monday.

However, she said the initial focus is on primary care and GP clinics who have good connections with their patients, which is crucial for explaining the importance of getting vaccination and any side effects.

She also noted the GP link will be pivotal in ensuring people have the second jab to complete the course after a 12 week gap.

A SA Health spokesman indicated the tender was for programs rather than mass hubs as is occuring interstate.

“To support the Commonwealth’s roll out of COVID-19 vaccinations, we’re looking at a range of options to deliver vaccines to locations where there may be a gap in GP provision, or to specific groups such as our emergency services,” the spokesman said.

“The outcome of this expression of interest is to identify a short-list of suitably capable vaccine service providers, who could be engaged quickly should the need arise.”

Last week, some South Australian GP clinics said they were considering pulling out of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout after being inundated with “rude, aggressive” people angry they cannot make a booking for the jab.

Today, GP clinics across the state started giving the vaccine as part of phase 1B of the national rollout, in what’s been dubbed a milestone day for SA.

Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton queried the delay in releasing the tender.

“This raises the question why do states like Victoria and WA already have mass vaccinations sites available now, but SA is only starting the tender process today?” he said.

“Overwhelmingly South Australians are enthusiastic about supporting the vaccination effort, but the rollout so far has been slow and difficult in our state.

“While Phase 1B are starting, there are still many essential workers in Phase 1A who haven’t been able to have a vaccine yet.

“We need to make sure we aren’t falling further behind the rollout in other states. We can’t have this delayed response undermining public confidence in this hugely important rollout.

“Labor has been constructive and put to the government proposals at the start of January, including early identifying sites and planning for regional and remote area vaccinations.”