VACCINATIONS against the deadly coronavirus are finally under way in Ballarat but there remains a long road ahead to protect the community after a rocky start to the Pfizer roll-out.
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Ballarat Health Services started its vaccination program on schedule on Monday at Bill Crawford Lodge, the aged care facility where a COVID-19 outbreak was swiftly contained last July.
This comes after multiple private aged care homes in Ballarat, all under the Commonwealth's roll-out responsibility, had their vaccination bookings cancelled by private provider Aspen Medical last week.
The Courier understands one Ballarat aged care facility was the first to receive the vaccine on Friday with further independent facilities set for this week.
Australian Medical Association remains uncertain the federal government's coronavirus vaccination target - 20 million people by October - will be hard to achieve unless jab rates are dramatically increased.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has called on the federal government to be more transparent about its vaccine roll-out, as the state ramps up its regional vaccination program.
"We just think there's a bit of a need for the Commonwealth to share more information, to be a bit more transparent," Mr Foley said.
A small number of residents were given the wrong dose at a private aged care home in Brisbane. In a separate Victorian incident, Pfizer vials were thrown out after it could not be confirmed they had been stored at the correct temperature.
"We were quite disturbed to hear that there had been cold chain breaches that saw this very precious Pfizer vaccine essentially wasted," Mr Foley said.
State-run hubs in Ballarat and Bendigo got to work on Monday. About 400 public aged care residents in Ballarat will receive their first Pfizer dose by the week's end.
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BHS will reach all 10 Ballarat Aged Care homes with its initial Pfizer delivery this week, a thawed batch from Melbourne.
Jabs for high-risk healthcare workers would start next week in the new BHS vaccination hub located within the Base Hospital. This hub features an ultra-low temperature freezer, nicknamed Elsa, to store the tightly managed Pfizer vaccine in its frozen form.
BHS chief Dale Fraser has made clear the roll-out to Ballarat healthcare workers, including St John of God Ballarat Hospital and other key partner organisations, would start carefully before stepping up the process.
Grampians Public Health Unit is overseeing the roll-out across the region, including vaccination hubs to be set up in Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham. The unit had recruited Ballarat's top vaccination specialists, who had undergone extra COVID-specific training and tightly managed processes, with extra checks, were in place for handling the Pfizer vaccination in Ballarat.
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The first vials of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Australia on Sunday, doubling the nation's vaccination doses on hand. This is the vaccine most Australians will receive.
BHS continues working to secure a mass vaccination site in Ballarat to serve most of the public who opt-in for the protective jab.
The federal government has set October as the goal for everyone who wants a vaccine to have at least received their first dose. Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said it would be a challenge to vaccinate more than 20 million people in that time.
Phase 1b is expected to be well-underway by the month's end. This includes other healthcare workers, people aged 70-plus, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 55-plus and people with complex medical conditions.
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