Photos show empty Melbourne Showgrounds vaccine hub

Melburnians have been urged to get out and get vaccinated, after photos emerged of a deserted vaccine hub in the Victorian capital.

Eligible Victorians have been urged to get out and get the Covid-19 jab, after photos emerged of empty queue lines at the Melbourne Showgrounds vaccine hub.

As the state government works on expanding its weekly allocation of vaccines, the concerning picture of the deserted hub was shared on Twitter by Western Health on Monday afternoon afternoon, with the organisation pleading with eligible Victorians to “come and get the jab done”.

After recording 11 new cases this morning (two of which we already knew about), the state’s Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar told reporters at least one in five Victorians between the ages of 40 and 49 have now had their first dose.

“We will start the second dose in a week or two, and I want to make sure we can get them completed as fast as we can,” he said, adding authorities will drop the age of who is eligible “when we start to see demand soften”.

“We’ve done around just over 36 per cent of Victorians aged 50 to 69.”

Currently, Victorians aged 40 and above, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 16, and anyone with certain medical conditions or those who work in “critical workforces” are eligible for the jab.

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Empty queue lines at the Melbourne Showgrounds COVID vaccination hub right now so, if you’re eligible to be vaccinated, come and get the #jabdone!
Enter Gate 11, Epsom Rd, Ascot Vale.https://t.co/I8naMWJgYupic.twitter.com/0jm7DHHFn1

— Western Health (@western_health) June 7, 2021

Get out to the Showgrounds! Herd immunity will be your showbag! https://t.co/m8NXMrX0iQ

— Virginia Trioli (@LaTrioli) June 7, 2021

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said that “Victorians are really showing that, given the opportunity, they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible as the ticket out of this pandemic”.

“And though they are doing so much more at the moment than any other state, we want to make sure they continue to have that opportunity,” he added.

Mr Foley hinted there was more to come surrounding the amount of doses the government can deliver.

“I look forward to having more to say about that in the not too distant future”.

His Federal counterpart, Greg Hunt, announced yesterday an additional 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be supplied to the state over the next three weeks, starting on June 14.

“This week will allow them to work through some of their existing inventory and we’ll provide that extra 100,000 doses, that will support 50,000 individuals receiving vaccines, over the coming weeks,” Mr Hunt said.

“That’s a recognition of the very strong work being done here in Victoria and the strong demand, we want to see other states and territories have that same degree of public support and confidence.”

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Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino urged all eligible Victorians to get the jab. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Paul Jeffers

There’s been some concern that Melbourne’s already extended lockdown could be prolonged once more, with the original source of the “much, much more infectious” Delta variant still unknown, Acting Premier James Merlino said yesterday.

His “expectation”, he said, was by the end of lockdown on Thursday, “we’ll be in a position to have further easings of restrictions in regional Victoria and careful easing of restrictions in Melbourne”, but the decision would be based on public health advice.

“We’ve just got to drive this thing to the ground,” he said.

“We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing the public health advice that we receive.

“I hate going into lockdown, like every single Victorian I want to be out of lockdown as quickly as possible. The way to do that is for people to get tested, for people, if you are eligible, to get your vaccination, for people to follow the rules.”

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This daily infographic provides the total number of vaccine doses administered in Australia as of 6 June 2021. Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccine information here: https://t.co/TUKfzVuGVm#COVID19vaccines#COVID19pic.twitter.com/0sjbFy7u1G

— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) June 7, 2021

In the wake of Victoria’s most recent outbreak, a harsh spotlight has been thrown on Australia’s lagging vaccine rollout and who’s to blame for the hesitancy that a huge portion of people are feeling about getting vaccinated – with a third of the population saying they don’t intend to.

Labor MP Ed Husic said on Q+A that “there’s no sense of urgency” from the federal government to get Australians vaccinated”.

“We don’t have a mass information campaign urging people to go out and get the vaccination. Because our belief is that with the borders being closed, ‘She’ll be right’,” he said.

“That’s not a good public health strategy. We need to have a firm commitment out of the government to encourage people to get the vaccine.

“We need to get quarantine sorted out. We need to get the vaccine production and manufacturing here done. We need to get our act together.”

Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly told reporters this afternoon he’s hopeful that lockdowns like the one in Victoria won’t be necessary once the vaccine has been rolled out more widely.

“That’s obviously our aim, to get to a point where that’s a major, if not our only, tool to fight the spread,” Professor Kelly said.

“This sort of approach that’s happening in Victoria, we all hope that won’t be required into the future.”