Nearly 230,000 Queenslanders awaiting Covid vaccine as lockdown triggers jab stampede

New government data has revealed how South East Queensland’s lockdown triggered a stampede for the Covid vaccine as Brisbane’s mass vaccination centre opens today.

Lockdown has sparked a rush for jabs in Queensland and enough vaccine slots were issued in 48 hours to fill Suncorp Stadium, just as a major hub in Brisbane opens its doors.

New government data has revealed the suburbs most affected by South East Queensland’s lockdown have significantly increased their protection against coronavirus in a single week, with some areas seeing a 4 per cent rise in fully vaccinated people.

As the mass vaccination hub at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) prepares to open its doors on Wednesday morning, Queensland Health confirmed that 60,000 jab slots had been issued in just 48 hours.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk checks out the new mas vaccination centre at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Picture: Sarah Marshall

But 226,000 people, including those who registered since the new hub was announced, remain on the waiting list.

The opening of the BCEC site coincides with the closure of the Princess Alexandra and Mater Hospital Brisbane hubs to the general public, with Queensland Health saying that it was “more efficient” to consolidate smaller centres into large sites as vaccine stocks ­increase.

Queensland recorded three locally acquired cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, all linked to the Indooroopilly Delta-variant cluster.

Two of the cases were students – one each from Brisbane Boys Grammar and Ironside State School – and the third was an adult.

There were no cases recorded in the Far North on day two of the Cairns and Yarrabah snap lockdown, though new details were revealed about the two existing linked cases.

Chief health officer Jeannette Young confirmed the fully vaccinated reef pilot developed Covid-19 symptoms on July 31, with authorities backdating his infectious ­period to July 29.

Queensland’s new mass vaccination hub at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre opens on Wednesday. Picture: Sarah Marshall

It has emerged that the man was infectious days earlier, with the taxi driver who picked him up on July 26 having since tested positive.

Dr Young said the pilot’s vaccination status likely led to symptoms being delayed.

About 22 per cent of Queenslanders aged 16 and older are now fully vaccinated according to federal government data, but a breakdown of jab rates revealed the South East Queensland lockdown sparked increased uptake.

The community of Brisbane’s west, which includes suburbs such as Indooroopilly, had a fully vaccinated rate of 28.7 per cent on August 8, up more than 4 per cent compared with the week before. A similar uptick was charted in the Darling Downs-Maranoa region, as well as in Brisbane’s inner-city and eastern suburbs.

In Rockhampton, where there had been a Covid-19 scare in a person working on the Rookwood Weir, the city’s main hospital administered 2538 jabs last week – double what it had done in the previous week.

Meanwhile, 13,271 people were in home quarantine as of Tuesday, according to Queensland police, with random checks, physically and over the phone, showing a “high rate of compliance”.