Huge queues as more than 100,000 Victorians book to get Pfizer vaccine in a single day
Young Victorians have smashed the state’s online vaccine booking system, with more than 100,000 snapping up appointments in just 10 hours.
More than 100,000 young Victorians booked their vaccine on Wednesday as people aged between 16-39 rushed to get the Covid-19 jab.
The age group became available for the Pfizer vaccine at 7am, prompting a surge of people to swarm the online booking website and visit various state-run vaccine hubs.
The Health Department confirmed on Wednesday evening that from 7am to 5pm, more than 100,000 had booked in to get the jab.
Photos from outside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre vaccination centre on Wednesday morning showed hundreds of people lined up awaiting their Covid jab.
Long queues were also reported at the Royal Exhibition Building hub in Carlton and in St Kilda.
Victoria’s Covid-19 deputy commander Naomi Bromley said the vaccine booking website was receiving 50,000 hits per minute.
She said more than 1.3 million calls had also been made to try to book a jab on Wednesday morning.
Ms Bromley said 25,000 bookings had been made by 9am on Wednesday – 18,000 through the online portal and 7000 through the call centre.
“Tens of thousands of Victorians are trying to book in right now,” she said.
“So it is slow. It is busy. Please be patient. Please be kind to our staff.
“But people are getting through and making those bookings, which is really fantastic. There are still plenty of appointments available.
“We have had an extraordinary response to the changes to eligibility.
“This change makes the message really clear – every Victorian 16 years and over is now eligible to be vaccinated.”
Ms Bromley said from Thursday onwards Victorians needed to book the specific vaccine they wanted to receive.
She said those who booked on Wednesday or earlier would be offered both Pfizer and AstraZeneca when they turned up to their appointment.
Health Minister Martin Foley said there had been an “absolutely extraordinary level of influx of bookings” through the state-run clinics on Wednesday morning.
“We’ve seen the system put under substantial pressure but, at the same time, we’ve also seen huge numbers of bookings being made,” he said.
“What is fantastic is to see so many people who have become eligible under the announcements made by the Premier yesterday want to be part of recovery of our way out of this pandemic through the vaccination program.”
The rush on young Victorians wanting to book a Pfizer jab also prompted the state government website to crash twice – once minutes after the announcement and again on Wednesday morning.
Along with the new eligibility for the Pfizer jab, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also announced an extra 830,000 first dose vaccination appointments would be made available.
He said 450,000 of those would be Pfizer bookings.
Victorians aged 16 and 17 years old will only be able to get the Pfizer jab as they are not eligible for AstraZeneca under the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation’s advice. Those aged 60 and over will continue to receive AstraZeneca.
When people arrive for their vaccine appointment at one of the state hubs, they will be offered both vaccines and will be able to choose their jab.
Those who have already made an appointment will also be offered both and don’t need to change or cancel their appointment.
Impressive from all angles. Long lines at the pop up #vaccination hub in #stkilda#melbourne#COVID19Vic#COVID19Aus@abcmelbournepic.twitter.com/4HibZaotgl
— Iskhandar Razak (@Isk137) August 24, 2021
Mr Andrews again urged people not to cancel their existing appointments in order to book a Pfizer jab after more than 15,000 AstraZeneca bookings were binned on Monday.
The government has a goal of more than one million doses in arms over the next five weeks and Mr Andrews said more than 230,000 doses had already been administered.
“But please, if you haven’t had your vaccination yet, just book it in today to protect yourself and your loved ones,” the Premier said.
When asked on Tuesday about the website crashing, Mr Andrews said it spoke to the number of Victorians who wanted to protect themselves against the virus.
“I don’t know if you can build a website big enough for over 1.2 million people who want to get vaccinated,” the Premier said.
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