Government to rethink mass vaccination hubs -Australian doctors
The Australian doctors urged the government to rethink mass vaccination hubs on Thursday.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Omar Khorshid said mass centres would pose huge logistical challenges, including the difficulty of finding enough medical staff to manage the facilities.
“You need to find a workforce from somewhere, and we are not aware of large numbers of registered nurses and doctors who are available to manage these centres,” he said.
Australian authorities should add more clinics to speed up the country’s struggling COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Findings by Europe’s drug regulator of rare cases of blood clots among some recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine were a major blow for Australia.
It planned to produce 50 million doses locally after manufacture began at the end of last month.
Khorshid said it made sense to delay the creation of mass vaccination hubs until bulk deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine are due later in the year.
About 1.36 million total doses have been administered as of Wednesday, far short of the 4 million pledged by end-March.
However, Australia has recorded over 29,400 COVID-19 cases and 910 deaths, low case numbers have encouraged authorities to ease restrictions.
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