Melbourne’s mass vaccination hubs open doors with aspirations to jab 20,000 in a week

John Manolakakis says he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders as he lined up with his nonagenarian parents to receive the coronavirus vaccine as the second phase of the national immunisation effort kicked off on Monday.

Mr Manolakakis, 65, and his parents Jim and Pagona Manolakakis, both aged 90, were among the first patients to receive the vaccine at Altona North Respiratory Clinic in Melbourne’s west on Monday morning.

John Manolakakis and his father Jim Manolakakis receive a coronavirus vaccine at Altona North Respiratory Clinic on Monday morning, administered by nurses Peirrene McConville (left) and Chloe Coffin.Credit: Eddie Jim

“We live in the luckiest country on earth,” John said after receiving the vaccine.

He and his parents sat quietly as they waited 15 minutes to be given the all clear after receiving their shot.

Mr Manolakakis, a former truck driver, is eligible for the vaccination due to his autoimmune condition. Staff from the clinic called the family on Sunday to tell them they could receive the vaccination as they worked through a list of patients aged in their 80s and 90s.

“Everyone else can do what they want, but I feel good especially [for my parents],” he said.

“How can you put a price on something like this?”

The trio were among patients at clinics around Victoria who started receiving the coronavirus vaccine on Monday as phase 1b of the national rollout began.

People lined up to receive the vaccine at a number of sites, including the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service Respiratory Clinic in Fitzroy in Melbourne’s inner north.

Mass vaccination hubs at the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Convention Centre have also opened their doors, with the state’s next round of critical workers filing into the landmarks to receive their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

People aged over 70, those with an underlying medical condition or disability, workers in critical professions like police officers, and healthcare workers not already vaccinated, are among those who will be immunised against the virus during the second phase of the rollout.

The state Health Department’s coronavirus testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, said on Monday morning he expected more than 20,000 Victorians to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this week.

“The rate of that continues to ramp up. I reckon we’ll do 20,000 to 25,000 this week, the rate will go beyond that, and we’ll get to around 300,000 [a week] by the end of April,” Mr Weimar told ABC Radio Melbourne.

“It’s a big ramp-up in the state program.”

The Exhibition Building was once a makeshift hospital for thousands of Melburnians who fell ill with the Spanish flu in 1919. On Monday morning, a new era began as Victorians, including front line police officers, filled its northern wing to be immunised against coronavirus.

More than 10,000 people a week, dependent on supplies and staff, are soon expected to be immunised at the 140-year-old Exhibition Building.

With 6.13 million people eligible, Phase 1b is the largest phase of the program so far, and it has not been without teething issues.

The federal government’s vaccine booking website continues to frustrate some GPs, with a number of doctors saying on Sunday that patients continue to deluge them with calls despite no appointments being available for weeks.

The mass vaccination centre at the Royal Exhibition Building.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“It’s a nightmare to do it on the phone. Every second call is for this stuff. Every message we have on social media is ‘please do not call us’,” Melbourne GP Todd Cameron said on Sunday.

Sale-based doctor Yousuf Ahmad said his respiratory clinic had already done about 70 vaccinations by Monday morning. The first round of jabs went to staff at the clinic on Friday.

Dr Ahmad said the doses on Monday had gone to a mix of people over 70, some over 55 with chronic health conditions and front-line health workers.

“They’re looking forward to hopefully having normality in their life,” he said.

“Some people are talking about being able to travel overseas or across Australia.

“I’m not sure joy is the right word, but relief, definitely.”

Dr Ahmad said the respiratory clinic would get about 2000 doses a week, but he was aware that general practices were more likely to get only about 50 in the first instance, raising concerns about shortages.

“For us to provide [vaccines] to all the catchment area and patients, we’re still concerned about whether we will have sufficient ongoing supply.”

In north-east Victoria, Bright-based doctor Paul Duff said his practice was waiting to receive 50 doses on April 5.

“We could get those done in two days,” he said.

Dr Duff said demand for the vaccine had been sky-high in his region after the federal government released the list of GP clinics that would offer the jabs.

“Our phones were running off the hook the morning after the announcement from the federal Health Minister.”

Supply issues meant many clinics have been given as little as 50 doses of vaccine a week and it remains unclear, even to the government, just when more supply will be forthcoming.

Nine GP clinics on the federal government’s vaccine clinic finder told The Age at the weekend they had no available vaccine appointments for weeks.

However, the federal government remains confident every single practice due to start vaccinations this week has received their supplies.

About 200,000 doses will be delivered to GPs this week, with that number rising to 400,000 doses across more than 4000 GPs over the coming month, a spokeswoman for federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday.

On Monday morning, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd called for patience as he acknowledged that people had been finding it difficult to book appointments with their GP to get the vaccination.

“At the moment we have 1000 general practices which are starting this week to deliver the vaccines, but over the next three to four weeks another 3500 general practices right across the country will be coming online,” he told radio station 3AW.

“My message for those people who live in an area where you can find a practice nearby is just wait for three or four weeks until those 4500 practice sign-ups are up on the website, and we have arranged the rollout so that it is available locally to everybody right across the country,” Professor Kidd said.

“There’s no panic for people to get vaccinated, we need to do this in an orderly manner, we’ve got 6 million people in phase 1b, obviously we can’t vaccinate 6 million people in one day or one week, it does take us a few months to be able to cover everybody.”

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