Melburnians taking Colac Covid jab bookings, MP Richard Riordan says

There are fears about one-third of a regional town’s Covid vaccine supply is being taken up by Melburnians travelling from the state’s worst hot spots.

A Victorian MP has called on the state government to limit Melburnians travelling to the regions to get the Covid jab after a flurry of bookings at Colac.

Polwarth state Liberal MP Richard Riordan said upon receiving his vaccine at the town’s clinic he’d observed “about a third” of people present had travelled from Melbourne’s western suburbs rife with Covid hot spots.

“Country people have limited access to vaccines, which is limited further when crucial booking slots are swamped by people 200km away,” he said.

“How will we hope to get our VCE students in the regions vaccinated in time for exams, if regional Victoria’s limited supply is taken up by metropolitan people?”

Mr Riordan said the flurry of metropolitan travellers limited availability for regional Victorians to access their vaccines in a timely manner.

Murray Street, Colac. There are concerns people are travelling from metropolitan areas to access Covid vaccinations. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

“I don’t have a problem with Colac people accessing major vaccine centres that run every day, but some regional clinics only run one or two days per week,” he said.

He called on the Department of Health to put a postcode system in place for online bookings in country areas with limited supply.

Official guidance on the Victorian Government’s coronavirus website cites vaccination as one of the five reasons to leave home provided “the distance travelled, and the time taken is no more than is absolutely necessary”.

It’s understood people must travel directly to and from their vaccination destination and cannot stop for other reasons.

A Health Department spokesman said 300,000 appointments had been booked at state-run hubs in the past week alone.

“Victorians are permitted to travel more than 5km for vaccination, but only if the distance and time taken are no more than reasonably necessary,” he said.

“There has been no evidence to indicate the suggested booking behaviour is occurring in a co-ordinated way.”

It comes after Premier Daniel Andrews flagged the state could become a “vaccinated economy” in the near future.

“The economy, as best it can, will operate as close to normal as possible for people who had two doses,” he said on Monday.

“Everything from restaurants, cafes, retail, sporting events, theatre, the list goes on and on.”