Page 1056 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 3 May 2022
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arena COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic has been reduced to operate between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm seven days a week. There were 143 vaccination appointments that needed to be changed and the ACT Health bookings team has contacted all affected patients. The AIS vaccination clinic will continue to offer a walk-in service during opening hours.
Madam Speaker, the ACT government’s equity to access program also continues to make a vital contribution to our vaccination program. The program ensures that every member of our community can be vaccinated and protected against COVID-19, regardless of their personal circumstances. The equity to access program was scheduled to wind up at the end of April 2022, but we are now looking at an extension to 30 June. In 2022, the equity to access program has administered a total of 879 COVID-19 vaccine doses through a combination of in-reach vaccinations to homebound individuals and pop-up clinics arranged through non-government partner organisations. Of these, 53 have been winter, or second, booster doses; and 506 have been first booster doses.
In the past month, suburban pop-up clinics have taken place in dispersed locations throughout Canberra including Lyneham, Charnwood, Kambah and Turner. In addition, the equity to access program provides opportunistic vaccinations across the ACT’s public and private hospital network to inpatients who are not up to date with their vaccinations.
Canberra Health Services also collaborates internally with services such as mental health teams to provide home visits to some community members for a COVID-19 vaccination. The program has also been providing in-reach vaccinations to the Alexander Maconochie Centre and Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.
Canberra Health Services has also partnered with Calvary Public Hospital Bruce to deliver a needle phobia clinic. The needle phobia clinic is for community members who have a severe needle phobia and are unable to receive a vaccination through mainstream clinics or primary care. The clinic has been in operation since December 2021 and has vaccinated 17 people with at least one dose, with 15 of these having received a second dose and three people booked to receive boosters by the end of April 2022. The clinic also provides an avenue for patients to receive other vaccinations, or blood tests to monitor their health, while under sedation for their COVID-19 vaccinations that they would otherwise be unable to access.
I want to thank the staff working to provide this important service. Many of the people accessing this clinic have had traumatic experiences during previous vaccination attempts. The feedback we have received tells us that being able to access this dedicated service has had an enormous impact on these individuals’ health and wellbeing.
Madam Speaker, on 31 March, AHPPC published its statement on winter season preparedness. The statement recommended that any changes to TTIQ requirements, or test, trace, isolate and quarantine, should only be made following the anticipated peak of the current Omicron BA.2 variant. The commonwealth Chief Medical Officer subsequently advised the federal Minister for Health that Australia has reached the
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