Victoria’s jab army scaled up amid push for boosters

Victoria’s besieged Covid testing system is struggling to keep up with demand but an alternate workforce is being rolled out to ease the pressure.

One million Victorians would become eligible for their third Covid-19 vaccine dose, if the federal government shortened its interval period.

Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar on Wednesday said the jab army would be scaled up to meet demand after the government’s announcement after national cabinet.

Mr Weimar urged anyone at the five-month milestone between jabs to reach out to their primary care networks.

He said healthcare teams would continue to work hard over the Christmas period, but that an alternate workforce would be needed to help maintain demand.

Jeroen Weimar says Victoria’s jab army is being scaled up. Picture: David Crosling

“We are facing a significant challenge in the healthcare sector where many of our staff rightly deserve, and absolutely need, a break at this time of year,” he said.

There are currently 19 vaccination hubs operating across the state.

It comes as Victoria’s besieged testing system struggles to keep up with demand, with Mr Weimar revealing about one quarter of all tests were from people travelling interstate.

Mr Weimar said the PCR testing requirement, which is a condition of entry to many states, was a “by-product” of the huge delays at testing sites.

“It is not a highly productive way to use a PCR testing system,” he said, when asked if other states should rethink the entry rule.

“We hope to move to a more sensible arrangement in the very near future.”

Mr Weimar said it wasn’t ideal to have potentially infectious people waiting in queues for up to five hours, mixing with asymptomatic people getting tested for “bureaucratic reasons”.

Victoria now has more than 60 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of concern.

Mr Weimar said all of those individual cases have come from international arrivals or their close contacts, or out of the recent Newcastle cluster.

They are all in isolation, but health authorities are on high alert for more cases to emerge.

“The Omicron clouds are gathering over the horizon and we’ll have to think about how we respond,” he said.

“We expect there to be more cases.

“We’re obviously concerned about the number of cases continuing to rise amongst our friends and colleagues in New South Wales and given the high level of movement between our two states, we would expect high numbers to spread here, which comes down to all of us to please keep on top of the Covid-safe measures. If you are indoors, wear a mask.

“If you can do your gatherings outside, do it outside and open the windows to enjoy the good weather.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the Premier needed to front up to Victorians to explain the state’s testing crisis.

Mr Andrews, who has returned from his Christmas leave to sit in national cabinet on Wednesday afternoon, is not expected to speak to the media.

“This is not good enough,” she said.

“This is a lack of planning by the Andrews government.

“If he’s fronting up to national cabinet, he can front up to Victorians.”

Ms Crozier said rapid antigen testing could be used as a “prudent” measure to relieve the current pressures and allow holidaymakers to travel interstate.

Australia is set to launch a massive operation to deliver more than 14 million Covid booster jabs by the end of summer as authorities prepare to fast-track the third shot.

The Herald Sun understands the expert immunisation panel is likely to accelerate boosters to four or even three months after Australians received their second jab to bolster our defences against Omicron.

A four-month window would mean 7,222,529 people are eligible by December 31 — up from 3,865,785 people under the existing guidance — including 1,873,762 Victorians.

But while the state and federal governments are keen to speed up the rollout, senior figures admit it could spark major logistical issues over Christmas. The number of state-run vaccination clinics nationwide has fallen from 957 on November 11 to 699, while doctors are pleading for extra funding to handle the surge in demand.

Nancy Policheni receives her Covid booster shot at a pop-up clinic for traders at Queen Victoria Market. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

From January 10, 2.27 million children aged five to 11 will be eligible to be vaccinated.

Momentum is also growing for the booster to be necessary for people to be considered fully vaccinated, with Acting Premier James Merlino saying it should not be “an optional nice-to-have”.

There are 920,624 mRNA booster doses sitting in fridges in Victoria, with another 212,350 to be delivered by Christmas Eve, although deliveries after that could be hampered over the holidays.

As of Tuesday, 1,511,564 Australians had received a booster out of 3,155,000 who were eligible, based on the current five-month time frame. If that is narrowed to four months, almost 16 million Australians would be due for a booster by the end of February.

The number of state-run vaccination clinics in operation nationwide has fallen. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Mr Merlino said he wanted the timing between second doses and boosters to be “as short as possible” based on public health advice.

“We’ve got a window of opportunity in Australia and the southern hemisphere to get this done so that we can avoid what’s happening in Europe right now,” he said.

Nationwide, there are currently 3.2 million mRNA doses in fridges at GPs, pharmacies and state clinics, which will increase to 4.8 million by Christmas. Commonwealth warehouses also have 8.2 million Pfizer doses, 4.8 million Moderna vials and 1.2 million AstraZeneca shots.

As of Tuesday, there were 9422 GP clinics and pharmacies offering booster shots, up from 9271 on November 11.

Scott Morrison urged the states and territories to reopen vaccination clinics they had closed.

“The states have been pulling this back over the last couple of months, and it’s time to switch those back on. So we want to get those booster rates up. It’s important we get those clinics open again,” the Prime Minister said.

In the week ending December 19, Victorian state-run clinics delivered 31 per cent of all vaccine doses, below the national average of 33 per cent.

Acting Premier James Merlino wants the timing between second doses and boosters to be ‘as short as possible’. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Korshid backed the need for a “booster blitz” but called for the federal government to deliver more financial help to GPs.

“The commonwealth needs to reverse the funding cuts it has made to both general practices and pharmacies so that they are supported to scale up even further while the states and territories must step up their own efforts as well,” he said.

Mr Merlino also called for further federal support for GPs and pharmacies, as he said Victoria wanted boosters to be “considered by everyone as a third dose”.

That issue is currently being considered by the expert immunisation panel.

Mr Morrison said he would not “front run” their advice but that boosters would “significantly assist in protecting people against Omicron”.