THE freight and health care industries have been grappling with a tight deadline since September 9.
They were given two weeks to make sure staff received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine if they wanted to return to Victoria from a COVID high-risk area.
Finding an available appointment in this timeframe can’t be easy, given that a vaccination blitz for final-year secondary school students has been running since September 7, alongside regular vaccination arrangements.
Just two days ago, the construction industry was also given a vaccine mandate.
Workers in construction are now also required to have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by September 23, or must prove they have a booked-in vaccination date to continue working.
So we have Year 12s, truck drivers and construction workers all seeking priority vaccinations.
It’s great in theory, but challenging in practice.
Despite these groups putting in every effort to get vaccinated by their respective deadlines, many won’t be able to find an available appointment locally for weeks.
Adding to this, further vaccination requirements across a number of sectors are expected to be announced tomorrow.
Ongoing supply issues already have Mildura below the national average when it comes to first-dose vaccination.
Nothing exposes the perennial access issues we have faced more than a sudden rush for vaccines.
Simply put, working people in Mildura want to get vaccinated.
The pace of the vaccine rollout been a longstanding frustration for our community.
Couple that with sudden deadlines, and the issues with current arrangements become more apparent.
For a vaccine rush to be workable in Mildura, we need more appointment avenues and the capability to upscale and downscale as needed.
In order to get jabs in arms, we need vials in clinics.
And while the rush is on to get vaccinated, the supply of vaccines isn’t matching that urgency.
The government needs to fix up this rollout, and if there are no available vaccine appointments for our truckies before this coming Thursday, they deserve to be offered proof-of-booking exemptions.
