A southern NSW retirement village has hosted a pop-up vaccination clinic for dozens of residents and staff, as the village lobby group pushes government to bring more jabs into over 50s communites.
Retire Australia’s Murray Gardens Retirement Village in Albury hosted the clinic last week.
“Knowing that some residents could not overcome mobility challenges to attend the public vaccination hub in Wodonga over the border in Victoria, Village Manager Robyn thought the best solution would be to bring the vaccine to the village,” a RetireAustralia social media post dated 11 August said.
“She partnered with Albury Wodonga Health to facilitate this.”
“Our residents, their families and our village team found the nursing team to be very informative and incredibly empathetic, in particular with vaccine hesitant residents. No one was rushed and fears were allayed.”
It’s understood that around 40 residents were vaccinated on the day, with 100 per cent of residents now either having received their first or second dose.
In an email to his membership on 12 August, Retirement Living Council (RLC) executive director Ben Myers said he was urging the Australian Government to establish more pop-up vaccination clinics in retirement communities.
“Since the announcement by National Cabinet that aged care workers will be required to have a COVID-19 vaccination by 17 September, the RLC has been pressing governments to extend this requirement to retirement communities,” Mr Myers said.
“By having government extend this mandatory requirement, the workforces that are in close contact with Australia’s most vulnerable will be one step closer to becoming fully vaccinated.
We’ve also been working hard to encourage the Australian Government to establish ‘pop-up’ vaccination clinics in retirement communities.”
