Townsville's first community-based vaccine centre set to open

Townsville residents will have greater access to the COVID-19 vaccine from next month with the opening of the city’s first community-based vaccination centre.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said the new centre was part of the Queensland Government’s strategy to ensure access to vaccinations across regional Queensland.

The new centre will be located at the former Joyce Mayne furniture showroom, 1-3 Woodman Court, West End. It will open in the first week of August.

“As more Queenslanders come forward for vaccination, the Palaszczuk Government continues to work on growing its network of COVID-19 vaccination locations across the state,” she said.

“Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been working on opening up new community-based vaccination locations in Gympie, Cairns, Ipswich and the Gold Coast.

“We’re excited to be able to enhance access to the free COVID-19 vaccine in our regional communities such as Townsville and Cairns. These new centres will greatly increase capacity as the rollout continues.

“Many of our current sites are scalable, meaning they will be able to ramp up daily capacity as more supply becomes available and we’re able to administer more and more vaccines.

“Queensland Health has administered more than 827,000 vaccinations to date, including 73,000 vaccinations in the past week, as more Queenslanders come forward to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Member for Mundingburra Les Walker welcomed the announcement of the new vaccine centre to support the local community.

”Thank you to all those Queenslanders who have come forward to get vaccinated so far – vaccination is our best chance of beating this pandemic,” said Mr Walker.

“I encourage all eligible residents to register and come forward to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Our new vaccine centre in West End will enhance Townsville’s access to the vaccine,” he said.

“Thank you to all of the hardworking health staff who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this new vaccine centre a reality.”

To have the opportunity to access Queensland’s community vaccination locations, people must register their interest and they will be invited to make an appointment as appointments are available in their location.

High priority workers (Phase 1a and 1b workers) and anyone due to receive their second dose are currently being prioritised.

High priority workers include healthcare workers, aged care and disability care workers, quarantine and border workers and airport workers.

Anyone who is a high priority worker and is unable to make an appointment, can call 134 COVID to make an appointment.

To register your interest, visit www.health.qld.gov.au/vaccinebookings

ENDS

Media contact: Lucy Collier - 0409 461 324