The Fyshwick Business Association has teamed up with KENOLTA Medical Centre to run Canberra’s first drive through COVID-19 vaccination hub.
This Thursday 2 September between 10am and 3pm the car park at Dirty Jane’s at 80 Collie Street, Fyshwick will be transformed into a mobile AstraZeneca vaccination hub so that Fyshwick businesses and their staff who are not yet vaccinated can get their jab.
“We’ve seen it work really well in Sydney and we thought why not do it here?” Fyshwick Business Association President Rob Evans said.
“The Chief Minister and the Chief Health Officer have been doing a fantastic job encouraging everyone to get vaccinated and there’s no doubt the realities of lockdown and increasing case numbers and hospitalisations have given the community a bit of a wake-up call.
“It’s great to see Canberrans leading the way nationally on getting vaccinated, but it’s not enough yet to get us out of lockdown and back to our ‘normal’ lives and business operations.”
Mr Evans said what many people younger people did not realise about waiting for Pfizer was that unless you were in a priority or high-risk group there was usually a long gap of months from the time you book to actually getting your Pfizer jab.
“The clear advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is that in the context of a COVID-19 outbreak where the supply of Pfizer is constrained, adults younger than 60 years old who do not have immediate access to Pfizer should re-assess the benefits to them and their contacts from being vaccinated with AstraZeneca, versus the rare risk of a serious side effect.
“To quote Dr Norman Swan’s figures: in NSW if you are infected with COVID-19, your chances of ending up in ICU are 1 in 40, compared to the 1 in 50,000 risk of getting a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Right now, the best vaccination is the one you can get soonest, and that’s why we’ve taken this initiative to help get all our Fyshwick enterprises back in business again,” Mr Evans said.
Dr Joe Oguns and the staff from the KENOLTA Medical Centre in Nicholls will be managing the clinical side of vaccinations. Patients need their Medicare card. Bookings are preferred but not essential although online registration will be required at the time of vaccination if no booking is made. Register online here.