The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia has begun

[lovetravellingoz]

Vic Hub update from Vic DHHS:

Two Victorian high-volume vaccination centres at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and the Sunshine Hospital began opened their doors to the eligible public today.

On Monday, they will be joined by the high-volume vaccination centre at the Mercure Ballarat.

This will bring the total number of high-volume vaccination centres open to the eligible public to six – including the Royal Exhibition Building, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the former Ford factory in Geelong.

 

[jakeseven7]

Sydney Olympic Park in Mid-May

That’s it? Surely more in the pipeline?

 

[jakeseven7]

Based on the last two posters, looks like Victoria may benefit from "Vaccination Tourism".

Well done Victoria, streets ahead of the other states in mass vaccination. While the other states were screeching and arguing with the Feds, it appears VIC just went about and got ready anyway!

And yes vaccination tourism!

NEW QANTAS MYSTERY FLIGHT...
- Sip a drink at a collection of craft breweries, distilleries
- Sample the best restaurant, fashion and cafe culture Australia has to offer
- Explore stunning countryside, art galleries and street art
- And finally, wander down the river and visit an architectural award winning centre where a friendly resident of this state will say ‘short, sharp scratch’ to you!
- Return home knowing you are pandemic proof

Where is this mystery flight going to???

 

[dajop]

On Monday, they will be joined by the high-volume vaccination centre at the Mercure Ballarat.

Well if you’re going to a Mercure to get something that will generate antibodies to the virus, seems much wiser to do so in Ballarat than the Mercures in Perth, Sydney or Brisbane.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Well done Victoria, streets ahead of the other states in mass vaccination. While the other states were screeching and arguing with the Feds, it appears VIC just went about and got ready anyway

ACT seems to be doing well - easier of course with a tight geographic spread. VIC has 12 times our population but only 3 times the number of mass vaccination centres. State vaccinations to date, Vic had done 8 times what ACT has. Our figures are a bit muddied of course as there could be a fair few NSW residents in there, so we might not be doing as well as it looks.

 

[serfty]

Vic Hub update from Vic DHHS:

Two Victorian high-volume vaccination centres at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and the Sunshine Hospital began opened their doors to the eligible public today.

On Monday, they will be joined by the high-volume vaccination centre at the Mercure Ballarat.

This will bring the total number of high-volume vaccination centres open to the eligible public to six – including the Royal Exhibition Building, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the former Ford factory in Geelong.

Obviously, we in the South Eastern Metro area don't need them ...

 

[Lynda2475]

That's fine, NSW is more then welcome to spend the money to build a facility there.

The Vic plan is contingent on Feds funding majority of the cost, so there is no guarantee this will happen. Typical political spin, announce something without it actually being funded.

 

[Lynda2475]

That’s it? Surely more in the pipeline?

Since the start of the vaccination roll out i have been calling for mass vaccination clinics as a key way to get good numbers and to cater for those without a GP, yet the suggestion was mocked and shot down on this thread repeatedly. Now when you see the difference they make all of a sudden you are all calling for more?

In Sydney, Olympic Park will be the main mass vac centre offering both Pfizer and AZ. The 3 hospital based Pfizer clinics (RPA, Liverpool and Westmead) can also easily be opened up to public once 1A and 1b workers aged under 50 are done. There are already heaps of respiratory clinics with AZ availble if you care to look and areover 50 or under 50 and willing to risk AZ.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Trying to track down a vaccination for Mr FM and I. . The respiratory clinic says they have not received official notification as yet that they can vaccinate 2A in May. As soon as they do Hotdoc booking will update, so back to monitoring that. Will be phoning the Calvary Vaccination Clinic on Tuesday, but Calvary Hospital didn’t seem to think they would take bookings until June! Everyone very friendly and helpful, but currently I am on 0.

 

[TomVexille]

The Vic plan is contingent on Feds funding majority of the cost, so there is no guarantee this will happen. Typical political spin, announce so,ething without it actually being funded.

Still don't see NSW committing any money to a facility

 

[Lynda2475]

Still don't see NSW committing any money to a facility

No one ever claimed they did/would, nor that the facility should be in NSW. But if the feds or a pharma company expressed interest in NSW im sure they woukd kick in some $. I maintain my view that having vaccine manufacturer in more than one state is preferable for many reasons, you can disagree thats fine.

 

[mviy]

Some big issues with Sydney is the poor traffic and the airport has a curfew. Melbourne makes a lot more sense.

Even if a facility is built the best we could hope for if it was green lighted now is that it starts to produce booster shots in about 12 months or so, so it’s not going to help with the current rollout.

 

[Lynda2475]

Im not sure i get why SYDs curfew has any bearing in where vaccines are manufactured? No reason why cant be sent by air between 6am and 11pm or by road or rail. Despite curfew SYD already handles significantly more air freight than MEL. And during Vics second wave airfreight out of MEL was severely impacted. All the Pfizer at the moment arrives via SYD.

As someone who prior to covid was in Melbourne every couple of weeks, its traffic is just as bad ifnot worse as no train to MEL only road options.

That said no one called for vaccine manufacture in Sydney, but rather to fast track mrna capability onshore not just for covid but for future needs, andnot risk collocation with current csl facility.

It is short sighted to put all eggs yet again in the csl basket.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Obviously, we in the South Eastern Metro area don't need them ...

They are adding more still as it is a progressive expansion.

More high-volume vaccination centres will be opening soon. As they open, we will list them on the website.​

Heidelberg Heights is probably the easiest for those in the SE to drive to.

Melbourne Convention Exhibition Buildings probably the easiest to access through public transport via rail.

Plus there are GP Clinics are in the SE which can be accessed.

 

[tgh]

Tonight I had cause to check our Dr's practice website ( SEQ) ; interesting that for Covid..they are now booked out until…August...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Still don't see NSW committing any money to a facility

A manufacturing if built to supply commercial quantities of mRNA or any other vaccine will only be built if it is commercially viable.

The Vic money is but a small carrot and is closely linked with fostering the existing mRNA research in Victoria. Other states may or may not have an interest, but currently Vic is the State which has most fostered biotech research and manufacturing in Australia.

The Feds will not significantly fund a manufacturing plant (unless it is only a small scale one for research purposes. They MAY seek to do a Seqirus type deal where the carrot they dangled was not to build a plant, but rather to enter into a 10 year supply contract to supply flu vaccines.

Such a carrot can be tempting to some companies as it provides a certain baseload so that the company get a known minimum return on its investment. But for Seqiris to be truly profitable it needs to sell its flu vaccine and other products to many other governments.

Seqirus does not yet have any mRNA Vaccines, though it is researching a future mRNA flu vaccine. So it might eventually want to add mRNA manufacturing, but may not wish to do so until it has a viable product to make.


So Vic has dangled a carrot, but for that carrot to be eaten is going to require a big private sector partner. The problem with mRNA is that it is not just simply a matter of building a plant, you also need:

• A mRNA Vaccine to manufacture. Either that have already developed one, or they can secure a license to manufacture another companies. Remember too that Seqirus needed a 10 year supply contract to commit long-term to its new flu vaccine plant
• mRNA manufacture requires many complex components including the lipids and special bags, so that company also needs to be certain that it can access every
• Worldwide the Australian market is not that large and a company like Pfizer will have access to many carrots outside of Australia

So to get a viable mRNA manufacturing plant in Australia is going to require a viable commercial partner that sees it as desirable to manufacture here and that is the tricky part.

 

[jakeseven7]

Tonight I had cause to check our Dr's practice website ( SEQ) ; interesting that for Covid..they are now booked out until…August...

Probably one of the still ‘50 a week’ clinics unfortunately

 

[Oneworldplus2]

U.S. administers 225.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC​

The United States had administered 225,640,460 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 290,685,655 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.​

​

That is an increase from the 222,322,230 vaccine doses the CDC said had been administered by April 23 out of 286,095,185 doses delivered.​

​

The agency said 138,644,724 people had received at least one dose while 93,078,040 people had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.​

​

The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna (MRNA.O) and Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), , and Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) one-shot vaccine as of 6 a.m. ET Saturday.​

​

The United States can immediately resume use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, top health regulators said on Friday, ending a 10-day pause to investigate its link to extremely rare but potentially deadly blood clots. read more​

​

A total of 7,789,075 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.​

U.S. administers 225.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC

​

Fingers crossed we can start to get some excess from Moderna/Pfizer soon.

USA is flying along.

The Federal Government should be engaging with Moderna now (if they haven't already)...

.

 

[jakeseven7]

So now we have a real marketing problem to solve to get Australians to bother to vaccinate in a covid free country.....

Our government counterparts in VIC who are leading the country in getting the mass vaccination hubs open told us their flagship hub did less than 10% of its capacity on Saturday.... now I know it’s a weekend but still that’s pretty damn low.

Let’s all hope when the next phase begins there is a big surge in numbers.... they are ready to handle the numbers that’s for sure - those hubs alone can do about 15k a day in VIC at the moment with more planned...

 

[jakeseven7]

U.S. administers 225.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC​

The United States had administered 225,640,460 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 290,685,655 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.​

​

That is an increase from the 222,322,230 vaccine doses the CDC said had been administered by April 23 out of 286,095,185 doses delivered.​

​

The agency said 138,644,724 people had received at least one dose while 93,078,040 people had been fully vaccinated as of Saturday.​

​

The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna (MRNA.O) and Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), , and Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) one-shot vaccine as of 6 a.m. ET Saturday.​

​

The United States can immediately resume use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, top health regulators said on Friday, ending a 10-day pause to investigate its link to extremely rare but potentially deadly blood clots. read more​

​

A total of 7,789,075 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.​

U.S. administers 225.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines -CDC

​

Fingers crossed we can start to get some excess from Moderna/Pfizer soon.

USA is flying along.

The Federal Government should be engaging with Moderna now (if they haven't already)...

.

I somehow think they will prioritise the disaster unfolding in Canada over little old covid-free, vaccine hesitant Aus!