Running the GC engine room
MASS vaccination centres are expected to be operational across the Gold Coast by midMarch, with local health authorities waiting on approvals from Queensland Health.
It’s believed there’ll be several venues throughout the city, with Gold Coasters able to book online, with priority given to those who are older or have health conditions.
It comes as the highly anticipated Pfizer vaccine rollout starts at Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) on Monday morning, with 100 doses expected to be administered to
Queensland frontline medics, hotel quarantine staff and border workers.
It’s believed a local nurse will be the first person to get the jab, with the state’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young also expected to roll up her sleeve.
Dr Young said the state would receive 10,000 doses this week, with more expected each week for at least four weeks. After that things are expected to ramp up as the AstraZeneca vaccine was put into the mix.
Gold Coast Health’s executive director of integrated and ambulatory care services Paula Duffy has led the authority’s COVID-19 response for the past year and had worked on setting up the hospital’s vaccination hub since October.
“It’s really important that we vaccinate people as quickly as we can,” said Ms Duffy, who is in-line to receive the vaccination on Monday.
“We’re starting off with 300 people a day, but we aim to increase this number as time goes on.”
Open form 7.30am-5.30pm for the first week, it’s expected the vaccination hub will extend its hours next week to 9pm so shift workers such as police and night staff can attend.
Ms Duffy said the health service was also “well into” planning for mass vaccination centres, with venues to be away from the hospital but in areas that have good access to public transport facilities.
“We’ve got a couple of different options and we’re ready to go as soon as the health department says we can go ahead,” she said.
“And we’ll do exactly that same thing as we did with the simulations we did for the vaccination hub to make sure the flow is right at the venues.
“We’ll be doing that once the venue is defined from the beginning of March and we’re likely to be ready to go by mid-March, that’s the time frame we’re looking at.
“The Prime Minister said everyone will be vaccinated by October and I think this is doable because we now have the other vaccine, the AstraZeneca one, approved.”
Ms Duffy said the GCUH still had “at least one or two” COVID-positive patients in the hospital every week from hotel quarantine, with their length of stay varying depending on their symptoms.
“We know that from the
infectious diseases people that it (the virus) is not going away anytime soon, but I’m confident with the systems and processes we’ve got in place,” she said.
“And I can tell you now that the way our hotels are going it would be highly unlikely to have any issues (like Melbourne) because we’ve got really strong protocols in place with the police and ADF.
“I’ve got consistency of staff, I don’t move staff around and most are happy staying there … we do a fantastic job in hotels.”
For the vaccination sceptics, Ms Duffy said the Pfizer was a “very clean” vaccine with “very few components” so any negative reactions “very unlikely”.
However, just in case, a recovery and emergency room had been built into the vaccination hub.
“We don’t anticipate any problems, but maybe a bit of a sore arm the next day,” she said.
‘This vaccine is one of the most effective vaccines we’ve ever seen, and by everyone taking up this opportunity we’ll be able to continue to keep the Gold Coast community safe.”