Elite school offers private jabs for its students

As supply issues plague access to Covid jabs, a growing number of Melbourne schools are using a network of GP parents to help students access appointments.

Albert Park College has accessed Covid vaccines for year 12 students.

Another Melbourne school has organised vaccinations for its year 12 students, as supply issues plague access to jabs for other young people.

Albert Park College wrote to parents on Friday telling them Port Melbourne Medical Centre had “kindly reached out to the college to offer our year 12 students Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations”.

The shots will be administered on Sunday September 12, with the school telling parents it is “very happy to be able to streamline this opportunity”.

It comes as St Leonard’s College in Brighton made a similar arrangement though a parent contact for its year 12 students to be vaccinated on September 3.

The move prompted criticism from the Australian Education Union amid concerns privilege and wealth were allowing some students — but not others — to get access to vaccines.

School leaders are rushing to try and organise jabs for their year 12s ahead of exams starting for some students on October 4 and most on October 27.

Clinics and vaccination centres are now full for weeks, with desperate VCE students forced to queue up for hours during the school day.

At the Malvern Town Hall on Friday, the first people turned up for walk-in vaccinations just after dawn. By 9.30am the line, filled with VCE students doing their work on laptops, closed due to a lack of vaccine supply.

The Premier Daniel Andrews has said he wants all year 12s vaccinated by the start of exams but priority lanes have not yet been opened.

The state government said this week it hoped all year 12 students would be vaccinated before their October exams. However, with no detail on how that will happen, independent schools are approaching private companies that provided their on-site flu shots to facilitate access to the jabs.

Others schools such as Trinity Grammar, Methodist Ladies’ College, Scotch College, Xavier College, Brighton Grammar, Wesley College and Carey Grammar have a network of parents who are GPs, helping students access leftover supplies or obtain clinic appointments.

Not all schools have been successful, with the principal of Lauriston, Susan Just, telling parents she had been unable to secure supplies through a medical practitioner.

Meredith Peace, Australian Education Union Victorian branch president, said access to vaccine should not be “based on the wealth, privilege or connection of the individual school you are employed or enrolled in”.

“This highlights the urgent need for the federal government to lay out a plan that prioritises the vaccination of all education workers,” she said.

Ms Peace said the “provision of vaccinations for teachers, principals and education support staff and for students must be fair and equitable and based on public health advice”.

On Thursday Premier Daniel Andrews said Year 11 and 12 students should have at least one vaccination dose before their exams, which start on October 4.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say every single one of our 55 hubs would have priority lanes for students, so we’ll engage with schools as well so they can be as proactive as possible,” he said.

“That’s why we need to take the time to get it right. It’s not just a matter of telling people where to go, it’s got to be done in a methodical way, and school communities have to be a part of that.”

Vaccination appointments are fully booked for at least five weeks, with more than 100,000 booking made for 16-39-year-olds already. Many walk-in queues closed their lines by 8.15am on Thursday.

Parents and students are worried they are running out of time given most are due to sit their English exam on October 27.

Jacquie Blackwell, spokeswoman for the Shadow Pandemic parents’ lobby group, said all students were desperate to get vaccinated so they could sit exams.

“They just want to sit their exams at a desk at school like they should be able to do,” she said. “It’s 60 days before the English exams and kids are queuing seven hours to get vaccinated.”

Tina King, from the Australian Principals’ Federation, said all school staff needed to be included on the priority vaccination list because “keeping students away from the classroom during extended periods of remote learning is simply not sustainable”.

“With upcoming end-of-year exams for senior students, and subsequent need to have on-site attendance for this particular cohort of students, staff and student vaccinations have now become a necessitated priority,” she said.

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Colin Axup said schools should host vaccinations on-site.

“They already do it each year for Year 7 and 10 so it would be within each school’s capacity,” he said.