Public housing residents 16 and above eligible for vaccine

Vaccination hubs have opened up at public housing towers across Melbourne in a bid to protect vulnerable residents from COVID-19, but the announcement has caused confusion about accessibility and eligibility for the vaccine.

All Victorian public housing residents have been made eligible under Priority Group 1 to access the Pfizer vaccine if under 50 years, or AstraZeneca if over 50. But these changes have prompted groups of Australians who are not yet eligible for the vaccine to attempt to get their first shot either through genuine confusion, prompting from friends, or attempts to subvert the eligibility rules.

Grace, who wished for her last name to remain anonymous, was waiting in the queue at the new vaccination hub outside the North Melbourne public housing towers and explained how she came to hear about the change.

“Instagram; one of my friends came and said they were giving it to any age. I think because everyone wants Pfizer,” Grace told North West City News.

Another woman queuing who wished not to be named expressed some confusion.
“Yesterday, they were taking anyone, but they just came out and said you had to be over 50 or over 40, or have a reason. I have my reason, but some people have left,” the woman said.

The vaccine rollout is currently only accessible to residents of public housing and members of previously eligible groups who have been deemed a priority due to high risk.

Victorians would remember in July 2020 when the nine public housing towers were locked down due to concerns of an outbreak within the towers which were referred to as “vertical cruise ships” by Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly.

The nine tower lockdown was met with criticism and the Victorian Ombudsman found the actions “breached human rights”.
Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens Ellen Sandell announced the recent change in vaccine eligibility for public housing residents on Facebook.

“Last year’s lockdown of the nine towers was a wake-up call to the government to prioritise the needs of public housing residents and to stop treating them like second-class citizens,” Ms Sandell said

However, this message has spurred discussion on social media about the possibility of anyone aged between 16 and 49 being able to access vaccines.

The vaccine sites are not government facilities and are being run by the not-for-profit outfit Cohealth.

Cohealth communications manager Lanie Harris has spoken of the importance of moving the vaccine hubs to more accessible locations.

“The new thing is we are taking pop-up clinics on site at the towers, that means we are bringing the vaccine to where people are not relying on themselves to track down their closest site,” Ms Harris said.

“But, really, because the people who live in those accommodation types are already facing disadvantage of poverty, or low literacy, or other language barriers, doing that kind of outreach work is a really important way to get them access to the vaccine.”

While the queues are not long, averaging 25 to 30 minutes and often not more than 20 people, on-site nurses have to make regular trips out into the queue line to remind people that restrictions apply.

On-site health concierge, 21-year-old Zahra Neberay, spoke about some of the difficulties getting clear messaging to residents.

“After the hard lockdown a lot of people were traumatised and felt really bad afterwards,” Ms Neberay said.

“When they don’t speak English, it’s really difficult, but we try our best to give them the information about what they are asking. If not, we can get a translator, it’s a bit difficult but we get by.”

The mix of ethnicities and languages among residents of the towers means it is important to have people invested in assisting the community to have a clear understanding of their new eligibility status.

“I live around here so I was like, ‘oh! This is a great chance to help my own community’,” Ms Neberay said.

Senior nurse coordinator, Highrise response, Sally Wilcox has been coordinating sites across North Melbourne, Flemington, Footscray, Williamstown, and Kensington and has supervised the rollout of on-site information.

“We’ve got more signage and banners coming and, I guess, we are reliant on a bit of word of mouth particularly here. The residents and community leaders, we’ve had forums with them so they know this is happening here,” Ms Wilcox said.

Part of the concern regarding the community is that there is a large population of refugees in public housing.Access to vaccines for refugees has been a worry for Ms Wilcox, who assured North West City News that there would be no barriers to access for residents outside of daily supply amounts – even a lack of identification or Medicare cards would not be a deterrent.

“It’s handy to have some form of identification, but because these communities may not have identifying documents, it’s not a requirement to get the vaccine,” Ms Wilcox said.

“We are pretty reliant on people being honest about it and mindful this is set up for residents, however, we are not discriminating.”
“The system we use only has a few compulsory identifying questions, they don’t have to prove who they are or where they’re living.”

The hub is a six-day service Monday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.30pm and must be run under strict daily times. Public housing residents will be prioritised.

Ms Wilcox said the reason for the strict daily times, and the biggest delay in the vaccine roll out, was the “cold chain policy”.
“The cold chain is a whole job in of itself. Someone is allocated to that to watch the temperature of the vaccine every 15 minutes,” Ms Wilcox said.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved wider storage and transportation conditions for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Australia.

These changes have enabled greater flexibility in storage, transport and deployment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine across Australia. At the time of writing, new vaccine hubs were scheduled to open in Carlton and Williamstown on June 14.

Residents of public housing are being encouraged to come forward and get their vaccine.

Family and friends of members of non-English speakers, refugees, or anyone who might be cautious or not have direct access to information, should engage them in a discussion and find their local health concierge for up to date information.

When asked about the effectiveness of messaging around the vaccine roll out the office of Premier Dan Andrews was contacted but did not provide an answer prior to deadline •