Vaccination rollout program update

Sarah Courtney,Minister for Health

Tasmania’s vaccination rollout program continues to go according to plan, with the opening of the latest Government community COVID19 vaccination clinic in Mowbray.

The clinic will commence at the Tasmanian Turf Club in Mowbray at 1pm today and already has around 100 people booked in for their first dose of the vaccination this afternoon and another 130 tomorrow.

The Mowbray clinic is the third of four Government community clinics to open so far this week.

The first opened at Kingston near Hobart on Monday, Brighton is open this morning and the New Norfolk Government clinic starts on Sunday.

Following these, the next Government clinic to be set up will be in the North West and we are currently finalizing the most appropriate location, which we expect to announce next week.

These clinics are vaccinating Tasmanians who come under the categories which fall into the Phase 1b of our roll-out:

· elderly people aged 70 and over;

· remaining health care workers not vaccinated in Phase 1a;

· younger adults with underlying medical conditions;

· Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 55 and over; and

· critical and high-risk workers, including defence, police, fire and emergency services and meat processing.

Over 24,000 appointments for those eligible under phase 1b of the rollout are being loaded into our State booking system and will become available in coming weeks.

We will set up additional clinics as vaccine supplies from the Australian Government ramp up over the next couple of months.

What is very pleasing is that more GPs will be joining the rollout program over the next few weeks and Tasmania’s three GP-led Respiratory Clinics at Derwent Park, Launceston and St Helens are also participating, giving Tasmanians a range of options over the few months.

We remain on track to vaccinate around 180,000 Tasmanians in phase 1b by mid-July.

Please be patient when trying to make a booking as it may take some time due to demand.

Importantly, if you don’t have a booking, please don’t just turn up at the clinics, you will not be able to be vaccinated at the clinics unless you have a booking.

If you are unsuccessful in getting an appointment quickly, please don’t worry.

I would also like to remind Tasmanian businesses, including hospitality and events, to register for your Check in TAS QR code, which will become mandatory for use by 1 May 2021.

To date, there has been more than 235,000 downloads of the Check in TAS app, with 6,248 venues registered and a total of 782,766 vaccinations to date.

It only takes a few minutes to apply online for a Check in TAS QR code, and the majority of codes are issued within 24 hours by email to you. Just go to www.coronavirus.tas.gov.au to register for Check in TAS.

The vaccine is safe, effective and free – and over time, it will help us get back to a more normal way of life.

/Public Release. View in full here.