Michaela Meade
Over a quarter of today’s new locally acquired COVID-19 cases were recorded in Melbourne’s west, as health officials again urged vaccination.
COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed that 377 of the 1420 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours were within metro Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Mr Weimar said vaccination was the “best weapon” against the virus.
“Whilst the vaccine doesn’t make you immune to catching COVID, it does massively reduce the risk of you catching COVID or transmitting it on to another person, and of course, it massively reduces your risk of ending up in hospital,” Mr Weimar said.
Mr Weimar urged people to take advantage of the many options for getting vaccinated.
“As we stand here today, you can book ahead at any one of our state clinics, you can go to your GP, you can go to [a] community pharmacy or make an appointment to get Pfizer, to get AstraZeneca, or to get Moderna,” he said.
“Whichever you choose, you will find appointments within the next few days.
“There are no long waiting times, but if you don’t want to do that, there are now 10 sites where you can walk up to get your Moderna mRNA vaccine.”
The Sunshine vaccination hub on Furlong Road, St Albans, is one of the 10 sites of the Moderna walk-up vaccine blitz, which will run until Friday, October 8.
According to Sunshine Hospital, the walk-up times for the next three days are; today, Wednesday, October 6 8am–6pm; Thursday, October 7, 8am–7.30pm; and Friday, October 8, 8am–7.30pm.
