Today marks another important day in our effort to vaccinate Tasmanians against COVID-19, with the Kingston Community Clinic starting to vaccinate Tasmanians who are eligible under phase 1b of the rollout. These Tasmanians include;
- Elderly people aged 70 and over
- Remaining health care workers not vaccinated in Phase 1a
- Younger adults with underlying medical conditions
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged 55 and over
- Critical and high-risk workers, including defence; police, fire and emergency services; and meat processing
Already under Phase 1a we have delivered more than 8,000 individual doses of vaccine to 6,557 Tasmanians, including more than 1100 who have now had their second dose.
Our high risk front line staff will continue to be vaccinated at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Launceston General Hospital and North West Regional Hospital this week, with many more receiving their second dose throughout this week.
With the first of our government run community clinics at Kingston operational from this afternoon, along with the other three coming online later this week, we will be able to ramp up our efforts and vaccinate even more Tasmanians in the weeks and months ahead.
Our other State run clinics can be found at:
Location Venue Opening days*
Launceston Tasmanian Turf Club, Mowbray Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
Kingston Kingborough Community Hub Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
New Norfolk Millbrook Rise Centre Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
Brighton Brighton Civic Centre Thursday, Friday and Saturday
*Opening times will vary
Our message remains for Tasmanians to please be patient when trying to make a booking, it may take some time at first due to demand.
Importantly, if you don’t have a booking, please don’t just turn up at the clinics. Bookings are essential to ensure we can manage the process in a safe and efficient way.
Phase 1b has around 180,000 Tasmanians in it, and so is expected to take several months. As we rollout this phase we will ensure outreach clinics are stood up in regional areas, complementing GP-led clinics, so that all Tasmanians are able to get vaccinated.
I’d like to remind Tasmanians of how they can find out if they are eligible to be vaccinated at these clinics and how to book an appointment.
Tasmanians can go online to the Australian Government’s vaccine eligibility checker to check if they are eligible. It will ask you a series of questions to determine your eligibility.
If you are eligible, you will be directed to the Australian Government’s Vaccine Clinic Finder to find details of how to book at a GP, a GP Respiratory Clinic or one of our Community Clinics.
More appointments will become available in coming weeks and the Government will set up additional clinics as vaccine supplies from the Australian Government ramp up over the next couple of months.
Or course, today also marks the start of participating GP clinics administering the vaccine. Participating GPs will be in touch with their patients to let them know when they are able to receive their vaccine if they are eligible.
I thank all of our hard working staff who have helped to deliver every stage of our vaccine rollout to date.
This does not happen by accident. Our teams have been working around the clock to make sure we keep to schedule and it’s testament to their professionalism and skills that it’s run so smoothly.