Victorian health worker ‘furious’ over slow vaccine rollout, cites complacency, fear among Aussies

A Victorian nurse has unloaded about the rate of vaccinations in Australia after she vaccinated just one person in eight hours.

A Victorian nurse who administered only one COVID vaccine during an eight-hour shift has aired her dismay as concern mounts around the public’s uptake of the jab.

The nurse, who works at a mass vaccination hub in the state, was left fuming after only being able to give one person the jab during a shift.

She said there had been no issues with supply, but people were just not walking through the doors to get the vaccine.

“It’s a massive set-up, and it’s very efficient and everybody who comes in is really impressed with it, but the problem is I’ve had to drag people in,” she told The Guardian.

“I feel like not enough is being done to educate people about it.”

There are over 30 open-access vaccination centres across Victoria, with 324,743 people so far receiving the jab.

Reported yesterday: No new local cases and 1 new case acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
- 8,363 vaccine doses were administered
- 20,568 test results were received
More later: https://t.co/2vKbgKHFvv#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/72n47stOMF

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 18, 2021

But problems with the national rollout, doubts about vaccine side effects and people letting their guard down due to low community transmission in Australia have been major contributing issues to the vaccine’s uptake.

The nurse, who did not want to be named, said a combination of vaccine fear and general complacency were contributing to the issue.

Complacency and mistrust around the AstraZeneca vaccine is growing.

“I’ve brought in friends in their 60s or 50s who are usually intelligent people but who are reading so much misinformed rubbish about the AstraZeneca vaccine, and it means they are reluctant to get vaccinated,” the nurse said.

“It’s slow, it’s frustrating for the nurses, and it’s concerning that Australia seems to take this attitude of ‘let’s just shut the borders for as long as possible’ while there is vaccine just sitting there,” she said.

It comes after a national survey found almost one-third of Australians said they were “unlikely” to get the vaccine.

The survey, from Resolve Strategic, found vaccine doubts had increased in the months since previous polls in September and February.

The results found around 15 per cent of Australians were “not at all likely” to take the vaccine, with 14 per cent “not very likely” and around 35 per cent signalling they’d either be “fairly, very or extremely likely” to get the jab.

Around one-third of Australians have said they are unlikely to get the COVID vaccine. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Naomi Jellicoe

Reacting to the results, Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said he was “disappointed”.

“Disappointing to see such sentiments,” Professor Sutton wrote on Twitter.

“Low vaccination coverage is the greatest risk to health in Australia today.”

Disappointing to see such sentiments. Low vaccination coverage is the greatest risk to health in Australia today. https://t.co/Qnmr7IsdQl

— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) May 18, 2021

Earlier this year, University of Western Australia researchers warned it was fence-sitters who posed the biggest problem to the wider rollout of the vaccine.

A study compiled by the researchers found that more people were becoming less certain about whether they would take the vaccine.

The study found that while most people were willing to get vaccinated, the “maybe” group had grown.

UWA senior lecturer Katie Attwell, and colleagues Christopher Blyth and Julie Ann Lee said vaccination efforts needed to be focused around the “fence-sitter” group.

“We need to understand why some people are becoming less certain about their intention to vaccinate and tailor our approach to communicating with them,” the researchers said.

“Understanding the attributes of the maybes, and what they think, is essential if we want to address their concerns.”

More than 300,000 Victorians have received the COVID vaccine. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling

In response to the concerns, a Victorian Department of Health spokesperson said numbers showed people in Victoria were visiting the centres.

Although the centres were quiet in the days and weeks following ATAGI’s decision to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for those under 50, numbers have increased since.

According to department figures, daily attendance at the vaccination centre at the Royal Exhibition Building on Thursday, May 6 was more than 2000 per cent higher than on Thursday, April 15.

According to the Victorian government, vaccination rates have increased in recent weeks. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“Tens of thousands of people (are) now attending our vaccination centres every week,” the spokesperson said.

“This Monday was one of our biggest single vaccination days on record, with around 9000 vaccine doses administered through state-run centres and over 13,000 calls to the booking hotline.”