Pub lobby floats vaccine passports as doctors reveal where jabs are open

It can feel impossible to find a quick path to a Covid jab in some parts of SA but doctors in other areas say their books are wide open.

Eligible people eager to get their Covid-19 vaccination in light of the situation in Sydney and Brisbane may need to hunt around for their quickest option.

They may also need to double check online booking sites, as issues including type of vaccine and whether it is your second shot can create confusion about whether there are spots available.

SA Health’s own “dashboard” showing availability listed no bookings available at the Wayville hub at the Adelaide Showground for the next fortnight, but the separate federal online booking site yesterday was offering bookings there “within two days.”

The federal government’s online booking search engine for appointments repeatedly crashed yesterday.

It displayed a message saying: “Sorry, this link is currently unavailable. We’re working to fix it as soon as possible, so please try again later.”

SA Health encourages people to check covidvaccine.sa.gov.au for appointment availability in their area.

Health worker Cassandra Vakulin gets a Pfizer jab at the Wayville Covid-19 vaccination clinic. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“Appointment availability data is extremely dynamic and changes each day due to people making bookings, people cancelling booking and appointments/capacity being adjusted due to demand and supply,” a SA Health statement says.

“All first dose booking slots can also be booked for second doses, hence they appear in both categories. Some booking slots are dedicated for second doses only and are only listed under the second dose booking category.”

At 10am on Monday the available 1st dose bookings Pfizer (PZ) and AstraZeneca (AZ) for the next seven days at major hubs were:

Wayville PZ – 0, AZ – 462

WCH PZ – 0, AZ – 0

Elizabeth PZ – 0, AZ – 1347

Noarlunga PZ – 0, AZ – 0

Bookings for second doses were:

Wayville PZ – 0, AZ – 462

WCH PZ – 0, AZ – 42

Elizabeth PZ – 3, AZ – 1347

Noarlunga PZ – 1141, AZ – 473

Appointments vary considerably among GP clinics with some available in a matter of days and others not available for weeks.

Dr Daniel Byrne of the Chandlers Hill Surgery said there is no wait for AstraZeneca shots for eligible people at most participating GP clinics, and advised people to check with their GP who will know the quickest options in the local community.

More than 200,000 vulnerable children aged 12-15 will have access to the Pfizer vaccine from August 9, the federal govenment has announced.

SA Health figures show more than 11,000 people aged under 40 in SA have received an AstraZeneca shot and more than 41 per cent of these have received their second dose.

SA Health has more than 100,000 doses stockpiled — 59,756 AstraZeneca vials and nearly 41,000 Pfizer jabs.

Commonwealth figures show SA has a 54.4 per cent vaccination rate per 100 people, the second highest of mainland states behind Victoria’s 56.6 per cent.

As of Monday 41.2 per cent of South Australians over 16 had received one dose and 19.3 per cent two doses. Nationally, dose rates have more than doubled in the past month and are running at more than one million per week.

AHA: Vaccine passports can free our pubs

By Elizabeth Henson

Requiring people to produce a vaccine passport to enter pubs, clubs and restaurants could help safeguard the hospitality industry and motivate people to get the jab, Australian Hotels Association boss Ian Horne says.

Mr Horne acknowledged the concept of vaccine passports “would have been creating real anxiety in our industry six months ago”.

However, he said the ongoing threat of lockdowns and the damage they caused to businesses was starting to outweigh concerns over passports, so “you’d never say never” to the idea.

“(A vaccine passport) seems increasingly a safer way to go to allow us to continue to trade,” he said.

“What does the damage is the closures and the wastage and the loss of work for our employees or loss of income and yet all of our cost structures are still in place whether its paying off debts to banks and things like that.”

Mr Horne said such a passport may even help encourage people to get immunised.

“(It) in fact might be a genuine catalyst to get people who don’t want to be vaccinated off their backsides to get vaccinated because if they can’t go to the pub or the local sporting club or their favourite restaurant…all of a sudden any opposition to vaccine at the moment may significantly diminish,” he said.

Reviv Global’s HELIIX Health Passport is demonstrated in Las Vegas. Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

Australian Hotels Association boss Ian Horne. Picture: Supplied

But he did say passports could also be “cost inhibitive”.

“Whether you’re a cafe, or a restaurant or a pub, someone is going to have to be at the door to check them,” he said.

Business SA declined to comment on vaccine passports.

The Advertiser last week reported the State Government was working with the Commonwealth on a special vaccine passport that would be integrated in its mySAGov app.

The app currently houses QR codes.

Premier Steven Marshall elaborated on the concept on Monday.

“I think down the track we’re probably going to have a situation where airlines...people are going to have to demonstrate that people have been vaccinated,” he said.

Mr Marshall said rules around the passports were yet to be determined.

“But I do note...that in nightclubs and in different hospitality settings in Europe, UK and also the US, now we are seeing the licensed premises themselves saying ‘well look, actually we need to see proof that you’ve been vaccinated to gain entry’,” he said.

“Now these things haven’t been considered in Australia yet – we would like to have a methodology for being able to provide proof of vaccination but that is still also some time down the track.”

SA Health public health officer Nicola Spurrier was asked for her thoughts on the passports on Monday.

“I think at the moment we’ve just got to try and get everybody vaccinated because that’s indeed our way of reducing the risk of an increasing outbreak if we get seeding in our state,” she said.

“So that’s really my focus on making sure we get to that 70 per cent and we get to it as quickly as possible.”