MILDURA’S tourism chief has called for an urgent ramping up of the region’s slow vaccination rollout to help prevent more crippling lockdowns for hundreds of embattled local businesses.
Brett Millington, chief executive of Mildura Regional Development, is one of nearly 1800 people on the waiting list to get the Pfizer vaccine at the Sunraysia Community Health Services (SCHS) sub-hub.
He has now joined business leaders around Australia calling for the rollout to be fast-tracked as mounting COVID-19 cases leave regional communities reeling in lockdown.
“The rest of the world is opening up but we’re lagging because our vaccination rates are so low,” Mr Millington said.
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on the waiting list for nearly eight weeks.
“I registered to get the jab here as soon as we had the opportunity (in early June).
“I followed it up after a month and they simply confirmed I was on the waiting list.”
As of Thursday, Australia had only fully vaccinated 13.3 per cent of its 25.7 million population.
It’s not clear how many people in Sunraysia have had the jab as the Morrison Government refuses to reveal the data.
Sunraysia Daily tried to find out the status of the local rollout this week, but little information was forthcoming.
Asked when it was likely to clear the backlog of vaccinations in Mildura so the state-run sub-hub could be reopened to the public, a SCHS spokesperson said: “I can’t comment on that.
“We have been focusing on testing this week (for COVID) … and it depends on allocation (of vaccines) moving forward.”
The spokeswoman forwarded other questions about the local vaccine rollout to Bendigo Health, which had directed questions to SCHS the previous day.
Sunraysia Daily then approached Member for Mallee Anne Webster to ask whether Mildura was likely to receive its slice of the millions of extra Pfizer doses arriving in Australia over the next month.
But, despite Dr Webster writing to Health Minister Greg Hunt earlier in the day to request the same thing, it seems that Pfizer supplies to Mildura will remain low on account of the COVID crisis in Greater Sydney.
“My job is to fight for the Mallee, but we need to understand that Sydney is in a world of pain,” Dr Webster said.
The Mildura region received an additional allocation of 500 doses of Pfizer vaccine on Monday, consisting of 250 first doses and 250 second doses.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said: “Hundreds of additional vaccination doses have been sent to Mildura in response to the high demand being experienced at this critical time.”
Lime Medical Clinic received 60 additional doses of Pfizer vaccine this week, increasing its weekly allocation to 210 doses.
Meanwhile, pregnant women are now considered a priority in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and have been added to phase 1b.
It means that, regardless of their age, all pregnant women can now get the Pfizer vaccine.
Dr Webster said pharmacies and additional GPs across the Mallee would be invited to join the vaccine rollout.
“I have spoken to pharmacists in Mallee who are ready and willing to distribute the vaccine,” she said. “They have been found suitable and approved by the Commonwealth and are just waiting for state sign-off.”
Member for Mildura Ali Cupper again called on the state and federal governments to increase Pfizer supplies to Sunraysia.
“Local people are increasingly motivated to get vaccinated,” she said.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton gave cold comfort to Sunraysia residents about the regional vaccine rollout in his press briefing on Friday.
“There’s good appointment availability in our regional centres of Geelong and Bendigo,” Prof Sutton said.
“You may not be able to get an appointment at your nearest vaccination centre, so it is worth a look around all those vaccination centres that might be in that next tier of distance away from where you live.”
As the state and federal governments struggle to find Mildura on the vaccine map, Mr Millington, who is in his mid-40s, wonders when he will finally get the jab.
For a man who has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart walls, it’s becoming increasingly critical to get the jab.
“This condition means I’m more susceptible to COVID,” he said.
He recalled an almost-fatal moment six years ago when he discovered he had a heart disease.
“I was out on a run and dropped dead in the middle of the road,” said Mr Millington, who was living in Maffra, Gippsland, at the time.
“It was the last day of a 10-week fitness challenge, where I’d lost 10kg.
“I was about 900 metres from my house and just keeled over.
“Thankfully, a couple of people were coming home from milking cows and found me and did CPR for 26 minutes and brought me back to life.”
