Walk-up shots, priority for supermarket workers in Sydney’s west as NSW records two more deaths

Walk-up vaccine appointments and priority access for more frontline workers will be introduced across western and south-west Sydney this week in an attempt to boost the area’s vaccination coverage amid high case numbers.

There are now 10 deaths associated with Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak after a woman at home in Pendle Hill and a man hospitalised at Campbelltown, both in their 80s, died on Monday.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said walk-in vaccinations would be available at some locations to encourage uptake.Credit: Dean Sewell

From Wednesday, supermarket workers from Blacktown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield and Liverpool local government areas will be eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine regardless of age, joining school teachers from Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool.

The program will see up to 500 workers at Woolworths, Aldi, Coles and Metcash stores – including IGA – in the area vaccinated each day, as well as supermarket warehouse staff.

On Monday evening, NSW Health released a number of new exposure sites, including a Campsie shopping centre where onwards transmission has been detected.

Anyone who visited Campsie Centre shopping mall between Wednesday 14 July to Saturday 24 July is considered a close contact and must get tested immediately and isolate for 14 days.

Other venues listed as tier one sites are:

• Campsie Growers Market, 14-28 Amy Street on Thursday 22 July between 6am-6pm and Friday 23 July between 6am-4pm
• The World of Fruit, 224 Beamist St on Monday 19 July between 3pm-4pm, Tuesday 20 July between 11am-12pm, Thursday 22 July between 7am-7pm and Friday 23 July between 7am-7pm
• Man Hing Chinese Takeaway, Campsie Centre on Friday 16 July to Tuesday 20 July between 11am-2pm
• Enfield, Produce Pet and Garden Supplies, 56 Coronation Parade on Saturday 17 July between 11:35am-11:50am

A list of casual contact sites have also been released, including Chinese Ginseng and Herbs in Ultimo and the T2 Domestic Airport in Mascot. A full list can be viewed here.

NSW Health administered a record 156,760 vaccines last week but Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said that figure could be over 350,000 if supply of the Pfizer vaccine was not constrained.

As state-run clinics prioritise giving younger frontline workers their first Pfizer shot, Dr Chant did not rule out the possibility that second Pfizer shots would be delayed for others.

Campsie Centre shopping mall.Credit: Google Maps

“We have to look at how we use the available doses of Pfizer to best support the outcomes for the community,” she said.

Walk-in AstraZeneca appointments will be available at five locations across Cumberland Council over the next two weeks in response to rising case numbers in the city’s west.

The vaccinations, on offer at community centres in Merrylands, Guildford, Greystanes and Pemulwuy, will be available to members of the local community aged 40 years and older.

Vaccination rates surged during periods of community transmission in Melbourne earlier this year, when walk-in appointments were available at mass hubs. All other NSW Health vaccination appointments require an online booking.

A vaccination clinic at Macquarie Fields, in south-west Sydney, opened in an old Coles store on Monday morning with the capacity to administer 20,000 doses a week. Local high school teacher Margaret Downey received the first dose at the facility.

Another south-west Sydney vaccination clinic, specifically for teachers and aged care staff, opened in a Prairiewood community centre earlier this month and can administer up to 7000 doses a week.

NSW reported 145 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, including 104 from South Western and Western Sydney local health districts.

The two additional deaths came after a woman in her late 30s from Sydney’s CBD being treated at RPA and a woman in her 70s being treated at Campbelltown died early on Sunday morning.

There are 156 cases admitted to hospital, including 44 in intensive care. Eighteen are ventilated.

After previously deeming Pfizer the preferred vaccine for under 60s, national vaccine advisory group ATAGI now recommends all adults in Greater Sydney “strongly consider” receiving AstraZeneca due to ongoing community transmission and limited Pfizer supplies.

Dr Chant stressed AstraZeneca was a very effective vaccine, calling particularly for people aged 60 and over who had not been vaccinated to book a shot as a matter of urgency.

Royal Australian College of GPs NSW/ACT chair Dr Charlotte Hespe said the new advice should give GPs confidence to offer any adult the AstraZeneca vaccine, following reports under-40s – not eligible to receive their shot at a NSW Health clinic – had been turned away by some doctors when Pfizer was the recommended brand.

She said it was likely practices with Pfizer would continue to prioritise patients aged 40 to 60 for those shots.

“My interpretation [of the advice] is that we continue to prioritise the patient population that was always prioritised with Pfizer, and then those who are not in a priority group are being encouraged to get AstraZeneca,” Dr Hespe said, adding Pfizer supplies were “really limited”.

Maximum protection against the Delta variant is acquired following two doses of vaccine. Under ATAGI’s updated advice people in areas with outbreaks can receive the second dose of AstraZeneca after four to eight weeks. Pfizer shots are administered three weeks apart.

“AstraZeneca is not a second rate vaccine ... it’s giving good protection against Delta,” Dr Hespe said. “We need to stop comparing brands and realise that we need to just get vaccinated.”

Recent population studies conducted in England and Scotland have shown both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines have high levels of protection against the Delta variant.

According to the federal Department of Health, 52,502 people under the age of 40 in NSW have been vaccinated with at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 23,269 have received their second dose.

This figure includes people who received the vaccine as part of Phase 1a or 1b of the rollout, prior to ATAGI recommending Pfizer for younger people, as well as a spike in under-40s receiving the vaccine from GP clinics over the past month.

As Greater Sydney enters its second month of lockdown, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would not “rule out” settings changing at the end of the week.

“We might need to go harder in some areas and release some settings in others,” she said, denying rumours that homeschooling – currently slated to end Friday – might continue for the entirety of term.

Among Monday’s cases were a staff member at Liverpool Hospital and a worker at Bankstown Terrace Care Community, formerly known as Bankstown Opal, which endured a COVID-19 outbreak last year.

NSW Health announced a number of new venues of concern on Monday night, including supermarkets and groceries at Lakemba as well as Beaumont Hills Chemist Warehouse all afternoon and evening from Monday to Friday last week and Campsie Growers Market all day from July 16 to last Tuesday.

Bernie Smith, secretary of the SDA, said the move to prioritise vaccines for supermarket workers was important given their exposure.

“You look every day at the exposure sites and about 80 per cent of them are supermarkets – this is about protecting people who are on the frontline,” he said.

Victoria recorded 11 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, all linked to known cases and in quarantine during their entire infectious period.

Stay across the most crucial developments related to the pandemic with the Coronavirus Update. Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter.