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Two SA mass vax hubs to close

Two of Adelaide’s biggest COVID-19 vaccination hubs will close earlier than scheduled due to dwindling demand, with those yet to be immunised now told to visit smaller clinics, GPs or pharmacists.

Jun 27, 2022, updated Jun 27, 2022
A queue for vaccination  at Wayville. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

A queue for vaccination at Wayville. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Under a revised scheduled announced by the state government this afternoon, the Playford COVID-19 mass vaccination hub will close at the end of today, while the Wayville clinic will shut on July 14. The Noarlunga hub will stay open but in a reduced capacity.

Information about when other clinics will close will be made available on SA Health’s website.

Earlier this year, the Malinauskas Government reversed a Marshall Government decision to shut mass vaccination clinics by the end of May following concerns about rising case numbers.

At the time, the government said the Wayville hub would be extended until July 31, while the Playford, Noarlunga and regional clinics would shut on June 30.

However, plummeting vaccination demand and staffing shortages across the state’s struggling health system prompted a government rethink.

“The reason why we had mass vaccination sites was for that huge rush in terms of trying to get people vaccinated all at once,” Health Minister Chris Picton said.

“We now know that we simply have 94 per cent of South Australians who have been double vaccinated over the age of 12.”

Latest data released by SA Health this afternoon shows third booster shots have been administered to just over 73 per cent of eligible South Australians and 68.6 per cent of those aged over 16.

At its peak, the state’s largest vaccination hub at Wayville immunised about 4000 people each day, but that number has since gone down to just over 100 people per day.

Meanwhile, the Playford clinic delivered just 23 vaccinations on one day this month, down from its previous daily average of 1143 doses.

Picton said at the peak of the pandemic the majority of South Australians were vaccinated at SA Health-run mass vaccination clinics, but pharmacies and GPs had since taken over as the most popular places to get immunised.

He said by shutting mass vaccination hubs, SA Health would free up more nursing staff to work across the state’s hospital system.

“In the last week, about 2300 (vaccines) a day have been provided through GPs and pharmacies, whereas only 600 (doses were provided) at SA Health clinics right throughout the state,” he said.

“Clearly there’s been an increasing ability for people to get access through their local GP and pharmacy that will continue into the future.

“(We’re) making sure we’ve got best utilisation of our staff, that we don’t have idle capacity for our staff and that we’re using them where they’re most needed, which is at the moment significantly in public hospitals, which are under significant pressure at the moment.”

Clinics will stay open at:

  • Noarlunga
  • North Adelaide, 77 King William Street St
  • Elizabeth, GP Plus Health Care Centre
  • Port Augusta
  • Whyalla
  • Waikerie
  • Murray Bridge
  • Mount Gambier
  • Port Lincoln
  • Port Pirie
  • Wallaroo

GPs and pharmacies will continue to offer COVID-19 vaccinations once the mass clinics close, with SA Health to also open new smaller vaccination clinics including at the GP Plus site at Elizabeth, as well as in Berri and Mount Gambier.

Mobile vaccination clinics will also continue operating across metropolitan Adelaide, particularly in the northern and southern suburbs, as well as in regional areas such as Mount Barker, Gawler, the south coast, Mount Gambier, Quorn, Hawker, Leigh Creek, Roxby Downs, Ceduna, Streaky Bay and Wudinna.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said she was sad to see the Wayville vaccination hub close after administering 580,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine over the past 14 months.

“There is a little bit of sadness, I think, as we say au revoir,” she said.

“We’re used to having Wayville as a show ground and facility for many other things and I think South Australians will look forward to those good times as well.”

The Wayville Showgrounds vaccination hub. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

State coordinator Grant Stevens has been tasked with compiling plans about how the government managed to stand up the mass vaccination hubs in the event of another pandemic.

“We certainly don’t know what’s going to happen in the future and that’s why it’s important with each element of the COVID response to keep that intelligence of how to do these things,” Picton said.

It comes as South Australia today reported 2137 new COVID-19 cases – up from 1996 yesterday.

Six people died after testing COVID-positive, including a woman in her 80s, two women in their 90s, a man in his 80s, a man in his 90s and a man over 100.

There are currently 210 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including nine in intensive care and none on a ventilator.

Of those in hospital, 117 patients have received three or more vaccine doses and 87 patients are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

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