Tasmania well ahead of vaccine goals, Premier says
The vaccination rate in the North-West has lagged behind the rest of the state, but the tide is turning after hundreds rolled up their sleeves at a new superclinic.
Tasmania
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SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Isabella Dobson was among 700 people who attended North-West Tasmania’s first super-vaccination clinic on Saturday as the lagging region came out in force to get the jab.
The superclinic was fully booked to give 1400 Pfizer jabs over this weekend as the tally for the number of Tasmanians who have received at least one shot climbed to over 65 per cent.
The clinic, at the Burnie Arts and Function Centre, will return in three weeks to give the second doses.
Another superclinic at PW1 in Hobart on Sunday is also fully booked with 1000 jabs expected to be administered.
“I was a bit nervous but feeling all right now as I line up,” Ms Dobson said.
“It certainly makes me feel better about going out.
“Most of my friends in Tasmania are also getting vaccinated. I also have friends in Melbourne who are also getting behind the vaccination push because they are so sick of being in and out of lockdown.
“I am here with my mum and my two little brothers. The boys are not booked in today but keen for when they can also get vaccinated.”
Nikki Lane, acting nurse unit manager of Tasmania’s vaccine emergency operations centre, said it was a fantastic.
“There will be more opportunities over the coming weeks. We really wanted to lift the vaccination rates in the North-West and there are appointments available in Devonport and Ulverstone, too,” Ms Lane said.
“Most people are happy, even excited to be vaccinated. Some have some fears but our nurses are great at alleviating that anxiety.”
No patient at the clinic experienced serious adverse side effects while waiting for clearance to leave, although some fainted.
“Our nurses are highly trained to deal with such issues,” Ms Lane said.
Department of Health secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said that as of Friday, 491,000 vaccination doses had been administered in the state and 90 per cent of Tasmanians aged over 70 had received their jabs.
The percentage of the population fully vaccinated is 47 per cent, which is above the national average.
The rate of those who have received their first dose across all age groups is expected to hit 70 per cent next week and 80 per cent by early November.
Super vaccination clinic opens in North-West
NORTH west Tasmania’s first super Covid vaccination clinic is fully booked and poised to deliver 1400 jabs into the arms of coasters this weekend.
The clinic at the Burnie Arts and Function Centre will deliver first doses of the Pfizer vaccine across Saturday and Sunday, with 700 people processed each day.
It will return three weeks later to administer second doses.
The initiative is part of a super six-week vaccination blitz across Tasmania designed to immunise as many Tasmanians against the virus as possible.
Earlier this week, the target of 63 per cent of eligible Tasmanians receiving a first dose that had been set for mid-September, was reached ahead of time.
As of Friday, the state had delivered 65.3 per cent of first dose vaccinations to eligible Tasmanians and 47.8 per cent were fully vaccinated.
This is compared to the respective national figures of 66.2 per cent and 41.1 per cent.
Premier Peter Gutwein said the state was on track to achieve an 80 per cent fully vaccinated rate as soon as the end of next month.
A further super clinic will be held on Sunday at Hobart’s PW1, while Launceston will host one next weekend.
There are also vaccination centres planned for Strahan on September 16 and 17 and at Zeehan the following week.
Tassie hits key vaccination target ahead of schedule
TASMANIA has hit a key vaccination target ahead of schedule as part of a six-week blitz to get more people jabbed.
More than 63 per cent of eligible Tasmanians have now received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, the figure aspired to be reached by mid September.
Announced on August 13, Operation Delta Shield had aimed to get to that target by mid-September, but it has been passed several days early due to record vaccination rates.
Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said more than 120,000 doses had been administered since the start of the campaign.
Currently, almost 64 per cent of eligible Tasmanians have received their first dose and more than 46 per cent are fully vaccinated, compared to a national average of 39 per cent for those fully vaccinated.
The rate of those aged between 30 and 59 with a first dose of the vaccine — one of the key targets of the latest blitz — has been boosted from 49 per cent to 61 per cent.
Mr Rockliff said the proportion of Tasmanians over 70 with a first dose of the vaccine had also now exceeded 90 per cent.
School vaccination programs at Elizbaeth, Claremont and Hobart colleges have occurred during the blitz, while 69 community pharmacies have come on board to administer doses.
Further super vaccination clinics will be staged in Hobart and Burnie this weekend, and in Launceston on September 25-26.
‘Freedom day’ is a myth: Premier
TASMANIA is running a week ahead of schedule of its ambitious targets for coronavirus vaccinations, Premier Peter Gutwein has revealed.
But the Premier has told MPs at Parliamentary Budget Estimates hearings that passing the 80 per cent threshold will not mean a complete freedom from restrictions.
Mr Gutwein said the state would pass the goal of 63 per cent of the eligible population getting their first jab on Monday or Tuesday, a target initially originally set for September 12.
He said that the state could expected to reach the target of 80 per cent in November.
“It is no-one’s intention that at 80 per cent we will open up to cross border travel from anywhere in the country and allow in plane loads of people with Covid," he said.
“I would expect as the vaccination rates increase in NSW we would see a steady step-down of those stay at home orders they have and I would expect we would follow those.
“Even at 80 per cent I would expect that if a state had significant restrictions in place such as stay at home orders, then we would follow that.
“If Dr Veitch says there are parts of the country we won’t accept people from, then those are parts of the country that we won’t accept people from.”
The committee heard there was a waiting list of between 140 and 180 people waiting for places in quarrantine hotels so they could enter the state.
Mr Gutwein said it was inevitable that the rate of vaccinations would decrease as coverager rose.
“It’s my ambition that we see more than 90 of cent of Tasmanians vaccinated against this terrible disease,” he said.
“It would be fair to say that the last 20 per cent will be the most difficult to get vaccinated.”
He said he would not contemplate the issue of “vaccine passports” until everyone who wanted a vaccine had the opportunity to get one.
“Let me be clear, I do think delta will arrive,” he said.
“One of the reasons that I’ve worked the last 46 days, as I said yesterday, was because that began, broadly at the start of the Victorian outbreak and for a period of time I was expecting a case any day.
“And in fact, the return my phone rang, I was expecting that call to be that we had Delta.”
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