SA Health will open new smaller vaccination clinics as mass vaccination clinics are starting to wind down operations in line with the overwhelming number of South Australians who have been vaccinated.
As vaccination rates rise with almost 94 per cent of South Australians having received at least two doses of the life-saving vaccine, and 73 per cent of eligible South Australians and 68.5 per cent of those aged 16 and over having received a booster, our vaccination clinics are now experiencing dwindling demand.
SA Health’s major vaccination clinics were all scheduled to close a few months ago, however the Malinauskas Government moved to extend the life of the clinics for a few more months to allow more people the opportunity to come forward and get vaccinated who had not done so already. Many mass vaccination clinics have already closed in other states.
There are importantly 600 GPs and pharmacies across the state offering COVID-19 vaccinations ensuring there is more than enough capacity to meet the current and expected demand.
A new SA Health site in the northern suburbs will open on Thursday 7 July, located at the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network’s (NALHN) GP Plus site at Elizabeth, with new, smaller sites in Berri and Mount Gambier also to open.
Mobile clinics will continue to service areas across the metropolitan areas, particularly in the northern and southern suburbs, as well across all regional areas such as Mount Barker, Gawler, the South Coast, Mount Gambier, Quorn, Hawker, Leigh Creek, Roxby Down, Ceduna, with outreach to Streaky Bay and Wudinna.
SA Health COVID vaccination clinics will continue to operate at:
- Noarlunga (mass vaccination clinic)
- 77 King William Street St, North Adelaide
- Elizabeth GP Plus Health Care Centre
- Port Augusta
- Whyalla
- Waikerie
- Murray Bridge
- Mount Gambier
- Port Lincoln
- Port Pirie
- Wallaroo
In addition, there will still be mobile clinics servicing local areas of need with communities to be notified of upcoming dates of visits.
This will importantly free up nursing staff to provide acute care, particularly at South Australia’s busy public hospitals during the winter months.
At the end of today, the COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic in Playford will close after administering more than 275,210 vaccinations since it opened in May last year, and approximately 32,000 a month at its peak. Demand for vaccinations at Playford clinic has declined dramatically over recent months, with just 23 vaccinations delivered on one day this month, which at its peak delivered 1,143 doses a day.
Over the past week only about 600 vaccines per day were administered across the SA Health vaccination clinics, in comparison to GPs, pharmacies and other commercial providers who had administered around 2,300 doses on average per day.
Wayville will be the last of the mass vaccination closures to occur on 14 July. Other clinics may experience changes in dates and times. The most up-to-date information can be found on the SA Health website.
Importantly future upscaling of vaccination clinics is part of pandemic planning for future waves and variants that is being conducted by SA Health and overseen by State Coordinator Grant Stevens.
Quotes
Attributable to Chris Picton
SA Health has played a major role in supporting GPs and pharmacies in vaccinating the community during the pandemic and will still play a role running clinics in the next phase of the program.
While we no longer need such significant capacity, South Australians can be assured they will still have access through approximately 600 GPs and pharmacies across the state, but also through the remaining SA Health sites, and we have the capacity to upscale if there is a need in the future.
Moving to smaller scale or mobile clinics, with a bigger focus on GPs and pharmacies administering the COVID vaccine going forward, will importantly free up nursing staff to provide much need frontline services at our busy hospitals.
Playford will be the first mass clinics to close today, and while the site had administered a peak average of 1,143 doses per day, it is now operating at about five per cent of its peak capacity, so these numbers tell us it is now time to wind back these services to meet current demand.
I want to thank all the wonderful staff who put their hands up to take on these new roles and the tremendous job they have done in helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Attributable to Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier
Our mass clinics such as Playford and Wayville were established to cater for large volumes of people, an average of 1,000 every day, to support the strategy of having as many South Australians vaccinated in the shortest period.
This was to allow the borders to open and for other restrictions to ease. It was subsequently important to keep the clinics open during early 2022 when Omicron arrived, providing everyone access to a third dose as quickly as possible.
Our remaining sites and mobile clinics will continue to complement the efforts of primary care providers and we will continue to work in partnership with GPs and pharmacies to ensure continued delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccination remains our best defence against COVID-19 and helps to reduce transmission of the virus at a population level in addition to providing the best individual protection against severe disease and hospitalisation.
I strongly encourage eligible South Australians who are not up-to-date with their relevant COVID-19 vaccination dose to visit one of the available vaccination sites, or visit their local GP or pharmacy.
