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Showing the way: Qld’s vaccine hubs to deliver 10,000 jabs per day

Logan Entertainment Centre and Rocklea Showgrounds will be used to vaccinate more frontline workers as Queensland approaches the 10,000 daily jabs milestone.

Jun 03, 2021, updated Jun 03, 2021
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. (Photo: AAP Image/Jono Searle)

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. (Photo: AAP Image/Jono Searle)

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said 18 community vaccination hubs would be open over the weekend, including the centre, showgrounds and Springfield Tower.

But the hubs will not be open to all Queenslanders, or walk-in patients, as the government wants to focus on health, aged care and disability services workers, as well as people aged in their forties who have registered.

D’Ath repeated her call on aged care workers not to wait for the Morrison Government to resolve issues with its vaccination rollout.

“If they do that, it means in three weeks’ time we can have our aged care workforce fully vaccinated,” D’Ath said.

There were 9,131 COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Queensland on Wednesday, a new record, and D’Ath said she hoped for 15,000 over the weekend, mindful that some of the hubs will be closed on Sunday.

“We hope that this weekend will be a platform for us to go forward and to build on our capacity,” D’Ath said.

Older Queenslanders are still being encouraged to see their GP or a Commonwealth respiratory clinic for an AstraZeneca vaccine, while the Queensland Government seeks to manage demand for Pfizer vaccines.

D’Ath acknowledged there had been problems with online and phone services for vaccination bookings, but she did not want people queueing for “hours and hours” only to be turned away.

“We haven’t opened up to everyone at this stage simply because we don’t have the volume in this country,” D’Ath said.

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“If we did, we could have people getting vaccinated above those who are most at risk or potentially able to give it to the most vulnerable.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will receive her first vaccination shot on Monday. She had been criticised for leaving it so late, rather than setting an example for the community, but today told 612 ABC radio she had to have her flu vaccine first and before that needed a tetanus shot after being bitten by her dog.

While Queensland has recently managed to avoid community transmission of COVID-19, with all new cases in hotel quarantine, Deputy Chief Health Officer Sonya Bennett said the “unpredictable” nature of the virus meant authorities still had to be vigilant in response to interstate outbreaks.

“I think what’s unusual about this virus is sometimes it doesn’t transmit at all, and then other times one person can transmit to a lot of people, sometimes with very little contact,” Bennett said today.

D’Ath said there may still be some health workers who had not been vaccinated, perhaps due to having been on leave, and it was difficult to know how many aged care and disability services workers remained unprotected.

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