A mass vaccination hub at the old Ford factory in Norlane will likely open early next month, according to Barwon Health.
“We are working with the site developers, Pelligra, and other contractors to ready the Ford site as a community vaccination hub,” Barwon Health chief executive officer Frances Diver said this week.
“We anticipate opening this site in early April.
“This community hub will provide vaccinations for the broad community in line with the Commonwealth prioritisation.
“The planning is well advanced and we will release details related to prioritisation of various groups in the community and the process for bookings closer to the opening.”
Barwon Health will staff and manage the site, with GPs and pharmacies across the region to also play an important role in providing vaccinations, according to Ms Diver.
“Dependent on supply, we anticipate it will take around six months to vaccinate our community,” she said.
“We will work with our partners in the region to establish other community vaccination hubs and pop-up sites.
“We plan to promote how to get vaccinated to the community via our website, social media channels, the print media and community groups.”
The development comes after the Independent last week revealed more than 1750 people had received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in less than a fortnight since the rollout began.
Across the region so far 2500 people have been vaccinated with another 3000 expected to be immunised this week.
Barwon South West Public Health Unit director Professor Eugene Athan last week said 5000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine would arrive in coming weeks for subsequent phases of the immunisation program.
Clinical trials have shown the Pfizer vaccine to be about 95 per cent effective against COVID-19, whereas AstraZeneca vaccine has an 84 per cent efficacy (74.6 per cent against the UK strain).
“Compared to the Pfizer vaccine, AstraZeneca will be easier to store and distribute across the Barwon South West region, which makes it logistically more straightforward,” Professor Athan said.
”It’s efficacy is proven to be effective to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Supply availability will be a significant factor in the rollout of vaccinations across our region, including when people receive the vaccine and which vaccine is used.”
