Jab hub now open

THOUSANDS of people can be vaccinated per week in the greater Bendigo region following the opening of the town’s mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Mollison Street on Monday.

Formerly a call centre, the site is now operated by Bendigo Health and includes 40 cubicles, a large waiting space and recovery areas.

The centre is open all week from 10am to 5pm, with bookings preferred but walk-ins are available from 10am to 12pm and 1pm to 5pm.

Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards was on site at the opening to receive her vaccination and said it’s a big moment in the region’s fight against coronavirus.

“It means that more and more people across Bendigo and Central Victoria can come here to get vaccinated against COVID-19,” she said.

“I’m encouraged by the fact that the mass vaccination centre here in Bendigo has been very well attended today, there’s been queues out the door so that’s a really encouraging sign.”

Married couple Rob and Kerry Dennis travelled from Strathallan, near Echuca, to get vaccinated at the centre because their local GP is booked out until late July.

“It’s really easy. You come in and they check you in, it’s good to see so many people lining up to do it,” said Ms Dennis.

Nurse unit manager of COVID vaccination at Bendigo Health Andrew Gaye said the new centre has a much higher capacity than the old one, which was a hallway in the old emergency department on Stewart Street.

“The flow here is much, much better than our old location, we were in a bit of a rabbit warren there down at Stewart Street, so we really appreciate the wide-open spaces here,” he said.

“We’re hoping in the not-too-distant future it’ll open up and we can just do whoever comes through the door.”

The space at Stewart Street remains open as Bendigo Health’s COVID-19 screening clinic.

Mr Gaye said he hopes the new centre will convince people who haven’t got their vaccination done yet to book an appointment.

“The cohorts are always going to overlap, no matter what we do there’s going to be those from high risk 1a who still haven’t been done because they’re waiting, and they don’t want to do it yet,” he said.

Bendigo Health is also holding a virtual community forum to answer any public concerns about the vaccination at 6pm on Monday, 31 May.

The forum can be accessed via app.sli.do/event/x4jlktok.