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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
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Vaccine rollout plans Tessa Randello and Liz Bell
THE Sale-based Wellington Respiratory Clinic is making plans for the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine, expected to be rolled out across the state by late March or early April. While Latrobe Regional Hospital has been selected as the local hub for the first Pfizer vaccine, which has a storage
requirement of -70 Celcius and can only be released to specialist venues, the next rollout will deliver AstraZeneca to suitable general practices, respiratory clinics, vaccination clinics and Aboriginal Controlled Health Services. Dr Yousuf Ahmad of Inglis Medical Centre, which operates the Wellington Respiratory Clinic, said the clinic would submit an expression of interest, and was hopeful of being able to provide the
AstraZeneca vaccine within the next two or three months — but only if it was given final approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Australia is aiming to have four million people vaccinated by the end of April. Dr Ahmad said he was quite hopeful the Wellington Respiratory Clinic would be approved to hold and administer the vaccine. Meanwhile, the Pfizer vaccine is
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Health services across the region are making plans for what will be a “complicated” vaccine rollout.
expected to arrive in Australia within weeks. LRH chief operating officer Don McRae said the hospital was one of the nine hubs in Victoria chosen to get that vaccine. “The Pfizer vaccine is coming to Australia before the AstraZeneca vaccine, so it will be reserved for the at-risk workforce and vulnerable people, and only administered at LRH,” he said. The next phase of the vaccination campaign, known as phase 1b, will include anyone over 70 years old, other health care and high-risk workers, younger adults with an underlying condition, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged over 55. Mr McRae said the Pfizer vaccine would come into Australia on February 22, but he was not expecting it to be in Traralgon until the end of March. “It’s really great for Gippsland people because it gives them access to the vaccine early,” he said. Mr McRae said the hospital would also receive supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine which “is stored like a normal
Krystal Kraft and Darcy Van der Voort are among the first Year 7s to begin at the newly-amalgamated Catholic College Sale. Some schools in the area are reporting increased enrolments. Full story, page 7.
Mickayla, Kerran and Shania are here to look after all your servicing needs.
vaccine in the fridge” and will be more widely available. “We will be starting off (giving the Pfizer vaccine) to the higher risk workers, people in the vaccination program the rapid response testing, public health response, then moving on to ED and in our COVID areas and the operating suite,” Mr McRae said. “Once we have our health care workers protected, we will move onto the general public around April. “This vaccination program will go until the end of November to December where we will hopefully have sufficient numbers in the community to have herd immunity. “Once open to the general public, we will be targeting more aged and vulnerable people.” Ms McRae said LRH would work with health services across the region to make a workforce plan for the “complicated” vaccine rollout. “It’s not about just lining people up and giving them a vaccine,” he said. “You have to have people’s details, you Continued page 3
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