![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/03\/IMG_3861-300x200.jpg\")
Registered nurse Lucia Shepherd, who\u2019s regular job is at the Base Hospital\u2019s emergency department, was one of the large team of health care workers fanning out across the region to administer the vaccine.<\/p>\n
With 40 injections either given or planned on Monday at James Thomas Court by Ms Shepherd alone, she said the vaccination process had been going well.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have been very receptive and quite excited to be getting it, and I think even a bit surprised that they were so early on in the piece,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe region\u2019s done a great job in getting the program together so quickly given we didn\u2019t know a couple of weeks ago when this was going to be rolling out.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur aged care residents have probably suffered the most. They haven\u2019t been allowed visitors or gone out and done any of their activities. I think it\u2019s fabulous we can give them the vaccine so they can get back their independence and improve their quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Late last week BHS CEO Dale Fraser outlined details about how the region\u2019s vaccination process would take place, not just for people included in the early jabs – who are known as phase 1A, but everyone else.<\/p>\n
That includes trained vaccination specialists, mobile teams, arrangements for frontline healthcare workers, and mass vaccination clinics in Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham.<\/p>\n
As the Pfizer-BioNTech requires two doses for effective vaccination, Mr Fraser said that while the aim was to use all the vaccine BHS received as soon as possible, plans were in place to make sure people got their second shot at the right time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith each delivery there\u2019s a paired second dose,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the 400 we get next week, there\u2019ll be a complementary 400 in a three week period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there\u2019s more supply of Pfizer coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
While those in phase 1A are likely to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech product, the majority of people will receive the Australian made AstraZeneca injections.<\/p>\n
As opposed to the Pfizer shot – which has to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius and thawed, Mr Fraser said the logistics of the AstraZeneca were less onerous and the second dose timing was three months, not three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAstraZeneca is [stored at] two to eight degrees,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is more readily designed to be used more broadly away from a centre.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ms Shepherd was giving the vaccinations this week, early next week she\u2019ll be receiving hers.<\/p>\n
She said she was looking forward to the jab and encouraged everyone else to get the injections when their turn came.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will make things more of a relief in the emergency department,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a pretty stressful year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get a really good response from the community, moving forward it\u2019s the best thing to do if we want to go back to doing all the things we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Lowday also urged people to get the vaccination when they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to give it a go,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the only way we\u2019re going to try to beat this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DOSES of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination have started in the region with early jabs going to seniors in facilities across Ballarat. One of the first in line to receive the injection was 83-year-old Elizabeth Lowday, a resident of the Ballarat Health Services run James Thomas Court in Sebastopol. A lifelong supporter of vaccinations, Mrs Lowday […]<\/p>\n