Stephen Wade unveils the COVID-19 freezer which can store 280,000 vaccine doses. PHOTO: Brendan Simpkins
Brendan Simpkins
ESSENTIAL workers in the northern suburbs will begin to receive COVID-19 vaccinations from next week, following the delivery of the state’s third vaccine freezer on Monday.
The freezer was delivered to the Lyell McEwin hospital around lunch time on March 1, joining the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre as South Australia’s operating vaccination hubs.
A fourth freezer, at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, is expected to be delivered this month.
The State Government announced the locations of South Australia’s vaccination hubs early last month, however only two of the planned nine hubs were up and running by the time the first doses of
the Pfizer vaccine arrived on our soil.
Minister for health Stephen Wade said it was the government’s intention that Lyell McEwin and Flinders hubs would open as quickly as possible after the RAH.
“What I can assure frontline health workers is that we are very committed to the Commonwealth’s vaccination schedule, which is giving priority to health care workers in that
first wave,” he said.
Acting executive director of medical services John Maddison explained Flinders has the ability to care for a sick neonate, as well as a pregnant woman, all on one site, unlike the Lyell McEwin Hospital.
If an outbreak was to occur during the early stages of the vaccine rollout, it is likely those patients would only be able to be cared for at Flinders, influencing the decision to rollout the hub ahead of the Lyell McEwin.
Staff were this week receiving training and education on the vaccines, readying them for a potential start of phase 1a as soon as next week.
Mr Wade said different hospitals would prioritise their front line health workers in various ways, with RAH emergency department, infectious disease and intensive care unit staff included in the first wave.
About 280,000 vaccine doses can be stored in the freezer.
Mr Wade said about 1400 doses would be delivered to the hospital each week once it was operating on ongoing capacity.
In the first week of the vaccine rollout, close to 2000 doses have been administered to medi-hotel and airport staff, as well as healthcare workers on the frontline.
