CORONAVIRUS — VACCINATIONS — SOUTH-EASTERN
PERTH
612. Mr H.T. JONES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the rollout of the
COVID-19 vaccination program and the government's commitment to getting
as many eligible Western Australian
vaccinated as possible. Can the minister update the house on the measures being
undertaken to provide more
opportunities for Western Australians to get vaccinated, particularly those in
the south-eastern suburbs?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I thank the member for the question
and, in particular, I acknowledge his strong advocacy for the vaccination
campaign in his area. I am very pleased to say, member, that two new clinics
have opened in recent days—one in his
patch of Armadale and the other in the area of Mirrabooka. The Armadale clinic
is located at the Armadale Central Shopping Centre at 10 Orchard Avenue,
Armadale, and is offering local residents another opportunity to get vaccinated.
It will be hosting on Saturday, 23 October, the same day as the Brunswick
event, an Aboriginal family day, at which all Aboriginal people aged 12 years
and above will be welcomed to the clinic with a welcome to country, food,
refreshments and other activities provided to create excitement and a sense of
welcoming for people to increase our
vaccination rates. This vaccination clinic will initially provide around 2 000
vaccinations each week, but, of course, this could increase depending on
demand.
I was joined the other day by the
member for Mirrabooka as we announced, with the Vaccine Commander, the opening of another clinic in Mirrabooka at The
Square Mirrabooka, 43 Yirrigan Drive. It will initially provide around 3 000 appointments each week with capacity to
increase as needed. These are great clinics. It was great to come away
from that announcement and walk outside the clinic, just as it opened, to see
the queues of people lined up down the shopping arcade ready to come in and do
the right thing and roll up for WA and get vaccinated.
Also,
a second pop-up clinic will be open two days a week in the local area at the
Herb Graham Recreation Centre. This
smaller clinic will encourage a greater uptake among culturally and
linguistically diverse communities. Interpreter services will be
available when required to assist people and to make sure that they have
confidence to continue to step forward and get themselves vaccinated. Community
vaccination clinics are open right across the metropolitan
area, at Centrepoint Midland Shopping Centre, the Claremont Showground, the
Kwinana Supa Centre, the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, and
Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City.
As
the Premier stated earlier, around 75 per cent of Western Australians aged 16 years
and over have received one dose, while more than 56 per cent are now
fully vaccinated. People can also get themselves vaccinated at any of more than 100 locations across WA, with sites
listed on the HealthyWA website. All eligible Western Australians are
urged to go to rollup.wa.gov.au to register and book their vaccination
appointments as soon as possible. Today, we announced that from today, all our
state vaccination clinics will be open to people who simply want to come in
without an appointment to get vaccinated. No appointments are necessary.
Obviously, we would prefer people to make
appointments, but roll up for WA, roll up at your local vax clinic, get
yourself vaccinated and let us get on with the task of keeping Western Australians
safe.