Cairns mass vaccination event week two 1500 jab target ‘achievable’
An “extreme” supply of the Pfizer vaccine is ready and waiting ahead of Cairns’ second mass vaccination hub and even more Far Northerners are now eligible to take advantage.
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FAR North residents aged 12 years and above are being encouraged to make the most of an “extreme” supply of the Pfizer vaccine as its availability opens to a wider population base.
Earlier this week Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Queenslanders aged 60 and older will be able to get the Pfizer jab from 80 state-run jab hubs from this weekend.
It comes as the state government announced a “Super Pfizer Weekend”, with people aged 12 and up able to walk-in to a vaccination hub to get their jab.
More than 189,400 Pfizer doses arrived on Monday.
In its first week the Cairns mass vaccination hub delivered a total of 1190 does on Friday, 1377 on Saturday and 1144 on Sunday with an average 45-minute turnaround for people walking in without an appointment.
The hub, with free parking at the Cairns Convention Centre reopens at 7am on Friday, welcoming appointment makers and walk-ins to get their jab of the vaccine.
Covid-19 vaccinations program director Kelly Pollock said from Friday all Queensland Health facilities would begin to administer the Pfizer vaccines to patients 12 and up, including those over 60.
“We want to encourage all of the community to get vaccines at the Super September event, never has it been so accessible and it certainly is the quickest way to receive it,” Ms Pollock said.
She said with the publicity behind the Super September event, she was confident the daily 1500 jab target could be achieved.
“It’s just a target we set ourselves, we’ve never had walk-ins at our facilities so it is new for us.
“But I don’t think we need to be making excuses for why we didn’t hit that target (last week),” she said.
The centre will be open from 7am-7pm on Friday and Saturday and 8am-4pm on Sunday.
Optimal Pharmacy Plus’ Belinda Everson said giving customers a choice of vaccine was a must.
“Hesitancy has been a big thing, a lot of people ask about the risks and most are OK with AstraZeneca.
“I don’t think just by opening up Pfizer to people over 60 will be the death of AstraZeneca because they’re talking about booster shots, which is now advantage to AstraZeneca, and when they come into pharmacies, for Astra, it’s only a five minute wait.”
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Originally published as Cairns mass vaccination event week two 1500 jab target ‘achievable’
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