Year 12 vaccinations a priority as Victoria records 45 new local cases

Victorians are trying to book online vaccination appointments at the rate of 50,000 a minute the day they opened to people aged 16 years and older, and more than 1.3 million people had tried to contact the call centre to book slots after the state widened availability of the Pfizer vaccine.

As the booking system struggled with demand, Education Minister James Merlino said it was a priority that all year 12 students receive the vaccine before exams start in October, and Victoria recorded 45 new locally acquired cases.

Of Tuesday’s new COVID-19 cases 17 were in isolation for their entire infectious period.

The cases were recorded from 53,321 tests, and 36 are linked to the current outbreaks. Nine are being investigated. There are now 538 active cases in the state.

The new cases come as all Victorians aged over 16 now have access to either a Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccination and Mr Merlino said the government has made it a priority to have all of the state’s final-year school students vaccinated against COVID-19 before their exams in October.

“The priority for us is to make sure that all final year students have received their vaccination before they start sitting their exams on [October 4],” Mr Merlino said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.

“So, there’ll be very strong communication to all students and staff across all our schools in Victoria … a particular message to our year 12 students, but also VCE staff, and staff who will be supervising the VCE exams - we also want them to get vaccinated.”

But Mr Merlino conceded the ambition could be thwarted by vaccine supply.

“We’ll be asking the Commonwealth for additional supplies of the vaccine,” Mr Merlino said. “We want [all] Year 12 [students] vaccinated, we want at least one dose for kids 12 and older by the end of the year, but that is going to be subject to supply.

From Monday, there can be school-based assessments on-site if they cannot be done online. The General Achievement Test has been confirmed for September 9, and exams are scheduled from October 4 through to November 17.

Warning over children and COVID-19

Increased access to vaccinations was announced on Tuesday, with people aged between 16 and 39 able to get Pfizer, and prompted widespread cancellations of AstraZeneca vaccination appointments, as Health Minister Martin Foley warned on Wednesday that the state’s current COVID-19 outbreak “continues to be an outbreak of young people”.

Jake Talevski,19, and his father, Rob, were front of the queue at the Showgrounds for Jake’s vaccine. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Of the state’s 538 active cases, 114 are aged nine and under, 101 are aged between 10 and 19, and 89 are in their 20s. There are currently 36 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria. Of those, nine are in ICU, and seven are on ventilators.

Melbourne local Jake Talevski, 19, jumped out of bed at 6.50am ready to grab one of the 450,000 Pfizer appointments coming online across the state at 7am. He said he refreshed the page a few times and then managed to secure a slot at Melbourne Showgrounds vaccination hub - all by just after 8am.

“Doing my research, I was always in preference of getting the Pfizer [vaccine] done,” he said.

Mr Talevski said he thought something similar to NSW’s COVID-19 situation could happen in Victoria, so he liked that the Pfizer vaccine had a shorter timeframe between doses compared with AstraZeneca.

“I even tried booking it yesterday as well too [because authorities were] saying they’ll give you Pfizer even if you’ve got an AstraZeneca [booking]. It didn’t work quite then,” he said.“I’ve just been waiting for the chance to actually get it done. It’s been a long time coming.”

Alex Sartor, 24, was already booked in to get the AstraZeneca vaccine at Melbourne Showgrounds on Wednesday, but was pleased to be offered the Pfizer vaccine instead when he arrived.

“I always looked at the [AstraZeneca] and thought to myself, ‘I’m quite a low-risk individual, I do keep healthy’, but there was always that thing in the back of my mind that there is that possibility of a risk,” he said.

“Having the Pfizer, it kind of does eliminate that idea in the back of my head.”

People checking in before they receive their COVID-19 vaccinations at the Melbourne Showgrounds vaccination site on Wednesday. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Northern suburbs resident Nikki Panopoulos, 23, booked in on Tuesday morning to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at Melbourne Showgrounds, only hours before authorities announced the expanded eligibility criteria for Pfizer.

She called the COVID-19 vaccination hotline later on Tuesday and they booked her in to receive the Pfizer vaccine at an earlier appointment on Wednesday morning.

“I think everyone went into [receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine] with a few questions but I spoke to my general practitioner and I felt fine - I think I felt lucky to get any vaccine that was available,” she said.

“I’m going to opt for Pfizer [today], just purely because it became available.

“We’ve been waiting for supply for a long time.”

High demand puts pressure on booking system

By 9am on Wednesday, 25,000 Victorians had booked in to get a COVID-19 vaccination, according to authorities.

The state health department’s COVID-19 response deputy secretary Naomi Bromley said 1.3 million people had tried to call the coronavirus vaccination booking line on Wednesday morning and the booking site was receiving 50,000 hits per minute.

There are 300,000 vaccination appointments available until mid-September. Credit:Chris Hopkins

“So it is slow, it is busy, please be patient,” Ms Bromley said. “Please be kind to our staff where people are getting through and making those bookings, which is really fantastic.” The deputy secretary said there were still plenty of vaccine appointments available in the system, with 300,000 available between now and September 17.

“But as I’ve said, the system is really busy and those appointments continue to fill up,” Mr Bromley said. “We will continue to take every single dose that we have in Victoria and turn it into an appointment so a Victorian can [book that appointment].”

Victoria’s 45 new local cases and support for Shepparton

Victorian health department deputy secretary Kate Matson has provided a breakdown of the state’s new COVID-19 cases as the government pledged to provide more support to the Shepparton community as the regional area struggles with a third of its population in isolation.

Mr Foley said more health workers would be sent to Shepparton, in the state’s central north, and that authorities were also looking at the possibility of dispatching more Australian Defence Force personnel.

“So we’re working through all those issues with the hospitals, the aged care centres, the food distribution chain people - the whole set of supports to make sure that the people of Shepparton, and the Goulburn Valley more broadly, get all the support they need,” Mr Foley said. “We’ll work through all of those other issues with council, with … industry, and make sure that the people [in Shepparton] get through this very challenging problem.”

The 45 cases recorded on Wednesday include nine linked to the Shepparton and Royal Melbourne Hospital clusters as well as:

Ten linked to MyCentre Child Care in Broadmeadows

Four linked to the Hobsons Bay cluster

Two linked to the CBD and North Melbourne

One linked to the Glenroy West Primary School

Ten household contacts of previously announced cases

Nine still under investigation by authorities but include cases in Hobsons Bay, Melton, Wyndham, Maribyrnong, Monash and Glen Eira

Hesitancy dropping, voters back opening plan

Access to vaccines for people aged over 16 comes as new exclusive political research by Resolve Strategic on behalf of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has found most Australians want political leaders to stick to a national cabinet deal to ease restrictions when the vaccination rate hits key targets, with 62 per cent backing the plan and only 24 per cent saying states and territories should go their own way.

Voters are increasing their support for vaccinations at the same time many of them decide the country will not return to zero coronavirus cases, with 54 per cent saying it is not possible to achieve “complete suppression” again.

The research also shows vaccine hesitancy has plunged to 12 per cent from 29 per cent in May.

At Melbourne Showgrounds on Wednesday, people had mixed feelings about whether Victoria should stick to the national plan. Ms Panopoulos said she thought it was a good idea.

“I do kind of agree with the fact that we can’t continue to live life in and out of lockdown, but I think it’s only safe to open up when [health professionals say it is],” she said.

“I think that if the vaccine’s proven effective and if there’s faith in the vaccine, and [it’s] as per the health advice, if we can get open, then why not.”

Tony, who asked for The Age not to use his surname, was at the Showgrounds on Wednesday to receive his second COVID-19 vaccine dose. His 15-year-old son was receiving his first dose.

He said Victoria shouldn’t stick to the national plan because it was unsafe.

“Seventy per cent means 55 per cent of the whole population - that doesn’t include children and there will still be too much of the Delta variant in the population,” he said.

“[I don’t know what] ‘open up’ means, [but if it’s] kids back to school and things like that, it’s not a safe number - it needs to be a higher vaccination rate.”

Only 10 per cent of those who are yet to be vaccinated said they were willing to take the AstraZeneca jab, reflecting months of dispute over a rare blood clot condition, official health advice to restrict it to older people, media headlines over its efficacy and political argument over its use.

Exposure sites

The state’s list of exposure sites continues to grow, and now includes more public transport routes and shopping centres.

The sites were focused around Melbourne’s north and west but also featured a takeaway food outlet in the south-east and a city supermarket.

The new tier-1 locations are:

Woolworths Millers Junction, 302-330 Millers Road, Altona North on 20/08/2021 from 12:00am - 3:50pm; on 19/08/2021 from 11:30am to 11:59pm and on 18/08/2021 from 2:00pm to 11:30pm;

Melbourne Market - Warehouse 4.1, 55 Produce Drive, Epping VIC 3076, on 22/08/2021 from 4:32am to 8:18am; on 21/08/2021 from 3:10am to 9:50am; on 20/08/2021 from 1:30am to 10:30am.

On Wednesday morning, authorities also identified a number of bus routes and the Melton to Footscray V-Line train route as tier-2 exposure sites.

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Mathew Dunckley is digital editor at The Age. Based in our Melbourne newsroom, he was previously business editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and Melbourne bureau chief for the Australian Financial Review.

David Crowe is chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Cassandra Morgan is a breaking news reporter at The Age.

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