More than 100,000 appointments have been made for COVID-19 vaccinations at WA clinics over the past week as Western Australia flexed up to deliver more vaccines than ever before.
The successful Roll Up for WA campaign saw more than 4,000 Western Australians vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Claremont COVID-19 community vaccination clinic over the weekend.
More than 50 nursing staff and dozens of support staff were rostered on each day to deliver the Pfizer vaccine to eligible people with bookings.
Following last week’s announcement that anyone in WA aged 30-49, and any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander aged 16 to 49 years is eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, appointments have booked out until the end of July.
Anyone aged 50 years or over is eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Bookings can be made by visiting https://www.rollup.wa.gov.au or by calling 13 COVID (13 268 43), and the system is currently taking bookings as late as September.
More than 13,000 bookings have been made at COVID-19 community vaccination clinics in the metropolitan area for this week (Monday, June 14-Sunday, June 20), located in Claremont, Redcliffe, Joondalup and Kwinana, and almost 1,000 at the Bunbury COVID-19 community vaccination clinic.
A further 10,300 bookings have been made at other State-run clinics throughout WA.
Revised advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is that the interval between any influenza and COVID-19 vaccination has halved to seven days and the State Government strongly encourages everyone to get vaccinated against both viruses.
As stated by Premier Mark McGowan:
“Vaccination offers our best protection from COVID-19 and I am thrilled that there has been such an overwhelming response from the community aged 30 years and over, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 16 years and over, since last Tuesday’s announcement.
“There has been a rush on to book appointments and we are committed to continuing to offer more vaccination opportunities, locations and times across the State in line with increasing vaccine allocations from the Commonwealth.”
As stated by Health Minister Roger Cook:
“To date, more than 85,000 Western Australians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, representing 4.1 per cent of the community (aged 16 and over).
“I would like to remind anyone 50 years and over that there are plenty of opportunities this week and beyond for vaccination and, as we have seen in the recent community outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria, there is no room for complacency. The risk is ever present.”
