Brisbane’s mass vaccination hub: Everything you need to know
As Queensland gets set to open its first mass vaccination hub, providing an incredible 3000 jabs per day, this is everything you need to know.
Queenslanders as young as 16 will now be vaccinated as the state’s first mass vaccination hub opens with the goal of giving 3000 lifesaving jabs per day.
The centre will open at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from Wednesday to vaccinate everyone from ages 16 years and up.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the move as the state ramps up jabs following the early delivery of Pfizer supply from the Commonwealth.
The centre will offer free parking to people booked in and will operate daily from 8.30am to 4.30pm, seven days a week.
However, walk-ins will not be accepted.
Ms Palaszczuk said the state was also inviting all people aged 16 to 59 to register for their Pfizer shots with Queensland Health.
“For people who are already on that waiting list from Queensland Health, you will be prioritised,” she said.
“But as we work through that list, now we are opening up for anyone between the ages of 16 and 59.”
The opening of the hub now spells the end for two other vaccination clinics – the Princess Alexandra and Mater South Bank – Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.
“The Queensland Children’s Hospital’s adult vaccination program will be diverted to the convention centre,” she said.
“This will enable the children’s hospital to focus on vaccinating eligible children.”
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said it was great to have enough supply to be able to open up the mass vaccination centre.
“It’s all about making vaccination as safe and convenient for thousands and thousands of people as we possibly can, which will supercharge our vaccination rate.”
Renowned Queensland virologist Professor Nigel McMillan said the opening of the centre heralded a new phase in Queensland’s vaccination rollout and would put us on track to meet the aim of having 80 per cent of our adult population vaccinated as soon as possible.
“I have no doubt we’ll get to 80 per cent no problem at all,” he said.
“When you look at approaches overseas to encouraging uptake of vaccinations, making it as easy as possible to get them has certainly worked well.”
Professor McMillan said he would like to see more hubs rolled out as soon as possible and for walk ins to be welcome once supply was no longer an issue.
“You’ve got to make it as easy as possible so you could open one of these up in Cairns, Townsville.
“We need to make the bar as low as possible.
“Right now there is a lot of confusion around where to get it, how to get it and we just need to make it easy, in the same way it is easy to go and get tested.”
The centre will be giving out first and second shots of Pfizer and second shots of Astra Zeneca.
Chief Health Officer Dr young said people who fell under category 1B – including new additions like pregnant women and teachers – would be prioritised.
The centre is not offering first shots of Astra Zeneca because people can easily book for Astra Zeneca shots at GPs and at chemists, Dr Young said.
Meanwhile authorities have managed to trace the source of the virus which infected a Cairns taxi driver to the marine pilot who tested positive in Cairns almost one week ago.
The taxi driver was infectious in the community for 10 days and led to Cairns and Yarrabah being hit with a three-day lockdown starting Sunday afternoon.
Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young denied it was a failure in contract tracing that led to the cab driver not being in home quarantine despite being a close contact of the fully-vaccinated pilot.
“We do our absolute best,” she said.
“We work with individuals but individuals don’t always know everything, and that’s why we have to keep restrictions in place now for another two weeks.
“We hope we’ve got everyone but we don’t know that we’ve got everyone and we can always see that you can subsequently get cases as has occurred in Cairns.”
Queensland recorded five new cases of coronavirus overnight – one in hotel quarantine and four linked to the Indooroopilly Delta cluster.
All four cases were in home quarantine, which Ms Palaszczuk said, was “fantastic news”
One case is a staff member at Ironside State School, another is a parent at that school, one is a household contact of a Brisbane Boys Grammar School student and the fourth case is household contact of a student at Ironside
As the Covid-19 crisis worsens in NSW, with cases detected closer to Queensland’s border including in Armidale and Byron Bay, the Premier warned she would not hesitate to pop the border bubble and keep all of NSW out and order police to start stopping every car crossing the border for checks.
“The further north the virus travels is alarming for us, so we’ll be watching that incredibly carefully,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Authorities have closed the border to NSW and restricted entries to Queensland residents only and those who have been given travel exemptions for the purposes of work or health concerns.
“We already have those border patrols in place at present, but if we have to go harder, we will,” she said.
The Premier again urged Queenslanders to keep getting tested with 26,394 completed in the last 24 hours.
Dr Young also clarified restrictions around community sport making clear it the two-week ban affected both adult and children’s community sporting competitions.
Groups of up to 10 are still allowed to meet to play sport as long as it is not a contact sport.
But she said if people were unsure whether they should be undertaking an activity, it probably meant they shouldn’t.
