It was recently revealed that Australia is behind on vaccination targets by 3.4 million vaccinations. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is taking up the task, at least within her state — the NSW government has announced a mass vaccination hub, located in Homebush, which will handle half of the entire state’s COVID-19 jabs.
Premier Berejiklian says the hub will open within “the next few months”, according to ABC News, and that it’s designed to support the Commonwealth — who is currently responsible for the majority of our country’s vaccine rollout.
NSW Health would be able to deliver 60,000 jabs a week, according to the Premier’s hopes, half of which will be administered at the Homebush hub — the other half will be in 100 sites scattered throughout NSW.
The only issue is that the acceleration plan for the vaccination program is entirely contingent on the Federal Government being able to provide enough doses.
As the Premier said, “At the end of the day, the Commonwealth is responsible for getting the vaccine to the states…once you [the Commonwealth] get those doses available to us, we’re ready to administer them in a safe way.”
NSW is on track to reach its halfway point of 300,000 vaccines administered by October, by the end of the week, as of today, the total currently stands at 134,323.
Brad Hazzard, the NSW Health Minister, said that there’s been no indication at this point that the federal government won’t be able to provide enough doses for the mass vaccination hub, and they’re working on the basis that they will have the vaccine available. He is said the lease for the mass vaccination is due to be signed “very soon”.
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